AVATAR: The Rising Empire
by Tyler743
Summary: Set two weeks after Sozin's Comet. Everything is just starting to go back to normal for the gaang, but when an old enemy joins forces with a threat more dangerous then Ozai himself, Aang, Katara, Zuko, Sokka, Toph and Suki team up once more.Kataang/Zutara
1. One

**I do NOT own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of it's characters and never will.**

* * *

_Since the very beginning of evolution, the Earth has been split into four powerful nations._

_The largest and most inhabited is the Earth Kingdom, whose odd person has the power of controlling the element of earth itself. These people are intensely diverse, strong, persistent and enduring. _

_The second and most peaceful nation is the Air Nomads, four islands that were home to the Airbending monks who made it their personal duty to detach themselves from the rest of the world to live in harmony. _

_The third nation is the Water Tribes, one located in the South Pole, the other in the North. The people of the Water Tribes are capable of controlling water, healing others and adapting to change. Unfortunately when I was born into the world, change wasn't an option. _

_About __one hundred years ago the Fire Nation, the fourth and most powerful of all the nations declared war on the other three. The people of the Fire Nation soon took complete control and slowly broke the world apart. The Earth Kingdom was the first to be attacked, and soon almost all of its city's were owned by the Fire Nation Army. The second was the Air Nomads, whose people were all whipped out completely. Finally war came to my nation, a small village in the South Pole, and destroyed homes, land, and many lives, including my mother's._

_I now know that when growing up in a world of war, you have to be prepared for anything, but being eight years old and losing a parent, there's not much you can do to prepare. Fortunately, just when it seemed like the Fire Nation was close to victory, my brother and I found a boy frozen in an iceberg, an Airbender named Aang, the Avatar, who was our only hope to bring balance back to the world. The three of us traveled across the world, along with Appa and Momo, Aang's pets from the Air Nomads. Toph, a blind Earthbender whose powers were not to be taken for granted. Zuko, the prince of the Fire Nation, the heir to the thrown after his father Fire Lord Ozai, although he wanted the war to stop just as much as we did. And Suki, my brothers girlfriend from a small Earth Kingdom village. Of course we met many other people on our way, some of them friendly and others not so much; who helped Aang prepare for the epic battle that everyone knew was coming. When the day came, Aang defeated the Ozai by taking his powers away and Zuko took over the thrown; ending the war, having his father imprisoned in the Boiling Rock Prison, and his sister, Azula thrown into a mental facility. _

_My brother, Sokka and I planned to head home as soon as the celebrations died down, as did Toph and Suki. In the mean time though, Zuko had his Uncle Iroh, a now famous tea maker in the largest Earth Kingdom city, Ba Sing Se; arrange to buy us a large estate within the city's walls where we could stay. It didn't take him long at all to do, and as soon as we got it we were living there. Zuko himself left his thrown in the capable hands of his girlfriend Mai, while he went off in search of information to try to help him find his long lost mother. _

_In present day__, the celebrations are finally dying down, and Sokka's already planning and packing for our trip home. The only problem is, the more I stay here, the more time I spend with the Avatar and my friends, the more I think about not going at all. _

_Remember when I said that you can't always be __prepared for everything? Well now, I understand that more then ever._

_

* * *

_

It was a cold night for summer, the wind nipped at my bare arms as I stood on my bedrooms balcony, nothing covering me but a blue tank top and usual long matching skirt. I was looking off into the sapphire sky, my eyes focused on the moon. It was glowing much brighter then it had been for a while, but that was probably because there was no longer the faint haze of smoke lingering in the air to hide it. The smell in the air also grabbed my attention. It was a nice smell, almost like flowers, a nice change from the ongoing smell of fire. I inhaled, taking in as much of the air as possible, enjoying the sent that I had only heard about in stories from the "old days".

"So you are out here."

I turned my head towards the door of the balcony. Standing there was the short blind girl I had grown to love just like my own sister, leaning against the doorframe. Her lips were twisted into her usual sarcastic smirk, and her faint greens eyes were gazing straight through me, just as if I was a ghost. "They missed you at dinner tonight. No one knew where you went." Toph said quietly, walking over to me, her arms ever so slightly outstretched in front of her, a sure-fire result of my wooden balcony. She stopped walking when her fingertips brushed the top of the railing and she faced me. I looked down, remembering the last thing I had heard before leaving for my room.

_"Man, I can't wait to get home!" _Sokka had said excitedly to Aang and the others._ "Everything's finally going to go back to normal."_

My eyebrows dipped down in confusion. Everything wasn't going to go back to normal, it couldn't. Yes we'd be back home with our family, and yes we'd finally all be together again, but what good is that when you have to completely forget the friends you've made at war, the relationships you've gained? Life is so unfair that way. Why do you have to meet people, begin to like them, only to know that one day you will have to say goodbye? I sighed and looked back at the sky.

"Yeah, I just wasn't that hungry I guess. Sorry I ditched." Toph smiled.

"It's okay. _I_ didn't really miss you anyway."

This made me smile. If there was one thing Toph was good at other then earthbending it was honestly. "Thanks Toph, that means a lot." I said in a low sarcastic voice. There was a long silence that was broke by the whisping of the wind. It coiled itself around us, causing our hair and clothes to dance along. "So," I started, wanting to make conversation again. "Now that the wars over, what are you going to do?" Toph laid her arms on the railing and her head on her hands.

"Go home." She answered in a hushed tone. "Go home and tell my father to stop treating me like a baby. I think now that I helped save the world, he'll understand. I mean there's not much he can say when I tell him that I almost single hand idly took down a whole Fire Nation air ship, right?" I didn't say anything, but I nodded. And even though she couldn't see my response I knew she knew what my answer was. I heard a light yawn escapes from her mouth as we stood there in yet another silence. "What about you Sugar Queen, got any plans?" she asked me.

I thought about it for a second, the answer of course was no, but I didn't want to make it seem like I knew that without hesitation. "I'm not sure…" I finally answered. Toph turned her head and looked up at me. "I don't even really know if I want to go home….not so soon at least." This caused her to raise an eyebrow.

"You don't…want to go home?" Another flash of confusion slapped me across the face and I scrunched my eyebrows together.

"I do, I really do. It's just…" I didn't know to how finish my sentence. What was the reason that I wanted to stay? Was it the fear of change? The thought of going back to being nothing more then a normal girl who does nothing but fish and wash clothes? Or was it something more then that, something about having to do with losing a friend, losing someone I cared about too much, losing someone I loved? My thoughts stopped at the word; love? What kind of love was it? The kind that you have with a close friend? Maybe the kind that you share with family? Or maybe it was just love, true love that I gained from this journey, true love with the same boy that one year ago I found frozen in an iceberg who had no idea how to live up to his expectations. And now, here we are, we've come so far, done so much together that I see him no longer as a friend, but someone more, someone I don't want to lose anytime soon.

This time Toph yawned loudly and stretched her arms above her head. "Well," she started, heading back to the door. "I'm going to bed, see you in the morning."

"See you in the morning." I said back as I watched her disappear into my room. Morning was going to come too fast for me, and I knew that before I even knew it, I was going to be on my way home. I frowned and swallowed, forcing a golf ball sized lump down my throat. I was going to have to say goodbye. I decided to go back inside as well, it was getting pretty late, and I was tired. But when I got into my room I was surprised to see _him_ standing before me, his expression filled with concern. I felt my heart and stomach lurch, it was different being around him now, he was different. He was no longer the young, immature child I had found in the iceberg; he was now a semi-mature, wise boy whose childish charm blended perfectly with his masculine features.

"Katara, what's wrong?" Aang asked worriedly. I blinked, realising that my distressed visage was still plastered to my face. I slightly shook my head, trying to somehow shake it away and forced a smile.

"What? Nothing, I'm fine." I reassured him. "Just getting ready for bed."

He frowned and continued to look at me; I knew he wasn't really convinced, so I walked up to him and gently placed my hand on his cheek. "Really Aang, I'm fine. I'm just a little nervous for the trip home tomorrow. That's all."

Aang looked into my eyes, and I could see the exact same sadness in them. "Oh…yeah." was all he said. We kept looking into each others eyes, my heart was racing and I could feel through his soft skin that his was too. A moment later, I found his face slowly inching closer, our noses were barley touching. He leaned his forehead on mine and sighed, his cool sweet breath brushing over my skin. My breathing got shallow and I closed my eyes, dreading that this would be the last time we would ever be like this again. "Katara…" he said huskily, but before he had time to say, or do anything else, the door barged open and we sprung apart.

My eyes drifted in the direction of our intruder and who I saw filled me with annoyance. Standing there was my goofy brother, Sokka, a large oblivious grin plastered to his face. He strode over to Aang and slung an arm around his shoulder. "Hey buddy! You almost ready to help me with those plans for tomorrow?" he asked. I crossed my arms.

"Sokka, didn't dad teach you how to knock before barging into someone's room!?" I demanded angrily. He cast me a smug look and shrugged.

"Uh yeah, but you're my sister, I don't have to be polite if I don't want to! So what about it Aang?" Aang looked down, his face a bit flushed.

"I don't know Sokka, it's kinda late…" he said unsurely. Sokka dropped his arm and frowned.

"Come on Aang, you said you were going to help me! How am I supposed to get home if you don't help me figure out a way to get there!?"

"I already told you that Appa and I will fly you back to the South Pole ourselves." Aang said looking dumbfounded at the boy who was now laying on the ground in distress. Sokka looked up at him and smiled.

"Really!? You'll take us?" he asked. I smiled smugly.

"That's what he said, or weren't you listening?"

Sokka ignored me, jumped up and hugged Aang tightly. "Thank you so, so, so, so much!" he chimed. Aang forced a smile.

"No problem." he said, pushing Sokka away. Sokka skipped back to the door and went halfway out, before turning around to look at me.

"Don't forget to pack Katara. We're finally going home tomorrow! For good!" I tried to smile myself but it didn't work.

"Can't wait…" I lied half heartedly. Sokka smiled one last time before running off down the hallway.

Both Aang and I looked down at the ground in silence. It was a little awkward standing there, but I didn't know what to say, so I decide to end our little visit, even though I wanted to spend as much time with him as I could. "Well," I started, tucking a lose strand of hair behind my ear. "We should probably get to bed. It's going to be a long day tomorrow."

"Yeah." Aang agreed. "Good idea."

With that, Aang quickly pressed his lips to my cheek and left my room, leaving me alone. I smiled. Leaving him was going to be the hardest thing I'd ever have to do in my whole life, I just knew it.

* * *

Miles away from Ba Sing Se, in the middle of an Earth Kingdom forest a prison stood all alone, thick black smoke rising from its chimneys, but because the sun was just coming up it shown the darkest shade of red you could imagine. Inside the prison there were hundreds of cells, each of which had only the smallest bared window, the prisoner's only source of light, which wasn't very bright considering the lights in the hallway were dim and dying. A lone guard walked down the hallway, pushing a cart full of slimy looking food. He stopped at each cell, went in for only a moment with a plate, then came back out to go to the next. The prisoners were all at their windows, peering out at the guard as he walked by, some of them saying rather impropriate things to him. He ignored them and continued on with his job.

"Feeding time!" he called as he unlocked cell number fifty four and went inside. The cell was dark; the whole back of it was completely casted in shadows so you could not see anything except for silhouette of a bed, and someone sitting on it, facing the wall. The guard stood there for a minute, looking at the person before finally bending over and putting the plate on the floor.

"Thank you so much guard." a small feminine voice came from the figure. He looked up as he stood back up straight. The figure still hadn't turned around, and her voice was so monotone that she seemed almost lifeless. "I have been so hungry today, but the other guards are so strict with feeding. You are by far the most honourable."

The guard gapped at her for a moment with a confused look on his face before clearing his throat. "Your welcome." he mumbled politely, before turning towards the door. "Well, enjoy your meal."

The girls golden eyes, which had been closed, opened slowly and shifted to the side, as if trying to see behind her without turning her head. "Oh…guard." she said, suddenly putting expression into her speech. The guard stopped walking and turned his head. "Would you mind bringing the plate over here? I haven't been feeling very well as of late, and it makes me nauseous to walk."

This time the guard narrowed his eyes impatiently. "It is against the rules for me to go near the prisoners!" he snapped rudely, causing the girl to turn around fully, her appearance no longer in shadow. She was a beautiful girl with long, shoulder blade length black hair that was as straight and as shiny as could be; her bangs were pinned back making a slight bump on the top of her head. Her topaz eyes went perfectly with her ivory, flawless skin. Her shape was one of a model, not one inch of fat, and yet not too skinny. She did not look like a prisoner at all, if anything she looked like a _princess_.

"Do you not know who I am?" she asked quietly. The guard smirked.

"Of course, you're Azula, the daughter of Fire Lord Ozai, or should I say, the old…Fire Lord. Your brother took over that opposition didn't he? If you ask me, he's the only one in your messed up family who's sane, other then your uncle!" Azula scowled, but stayed completely inline. The guard put his hand on the door handle. "So if you're feeling too sick to walk, then maybe you shouldn't eat at all! But if this was just some scam to escape, and you're not sick, then _enjoy your meal_!"

He turned around, pulled open the door, left and locked it again, leaving Azula sitting alone in the dark once more. She sat on the bed, just starring at the place the man had been standing, before she slowly walked up to her plate. She looked down at it, her gold eyes filled with anger, then without warning she swiped her hand at it and sent it flying to the wall, screaming as she did so. The plate hit with such force that it shattered to the ground, the slimy "food" spilling all over the floor. Azula continued to scream as she grabbed her hair and started pulling as hard as she could, her bangs fell out of the neat bump and onto her forehead. They were messy and crooked, as if someone had just hacked away at them with a knife. She stopped screaming, the rage finally subsiding and clenched her fists.

"I used to get the respect I disserved from people, but now look at me!" she yelled at herself, the sound echoing off the walls. "I'm locked away in this cold dark cell, striving for food, with no respect from anyone!" She reached up with hand and pushed her bangs back, sighing in defeat. "I could have been queen right now; I could have ruled the world. But no, instead I was beaten by a child." As soon as these worlds left her mouth, Azula smiled and started to laugh hysterically. When she finally stopped she crossed her arms. "Oh Azula, your losing your touch."

"Open cell number fifty five! Now!" someone called from outside of the door. Azula looked up as the sound of people rushing down the hallway boomed through her ears. She walked over to her window and peered out, wrapping her hand around one of the small bars.

Coming straight towards the cell beside her, seven guards were rushing down the hallway, two of them holding a man by his arms, the other five circling around them. Azula raised an eyebrow as she watched. The guard in the front pulled a key out of his pocket and shoved it into the lock of the cell door. It clicked open and the door flew in. The other guards were having no trouble at all restraining the man, who was just standing there, Azula wondered for a minute why they were even holding him. But then, as she carefully studied his face, his black eyes darted towards her and they met. Azula was stuck in a trance; the man's eyes were filled anger and rage, she could tell that he was indeed dangerous. She smiled to herself and backed away from the window. This was going to be interesting.

* * *

"Let's go, let's go, let's GO!" Sokka called excitedly as the gang packed all of their supply's onto Appa. Suki looked at him as she threw her bag onto the saddle.

"Sokka, I know you're excited, but please. Try to calm down." she said with a grin. Sokka walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm calm." he said suddenly turning indeed very calm. Toph pushed past them and threw her stuff up as well.

"Oh Sokka..." she said. Suki laughed.

Aang watched as the three friends slowly made their way up onto Appa's back and frowned. "We're going to miss you too." I said quietly as I walked past him towards Appa. He nodded and followed me. Once we were all packed and ready to go I looked at _our house_ one last time. Iroh had come to see us off and he was standing in the front lawn waving his large hand at us. We waved back, said goodbye and we were off. I couldn't help but feel a terrible sadness as we left, though nobody else other then Aang looked as if they felt the same way.

It took us three days to reach Gaoling, Toph's home town. When we got there, we were greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Bei Fong who were very happy to finally have their daughter back. We stayed for a few hours, giving Appa a change to rest, then we said our goodbyes, but promised to keep in touch thanks to Sokka's messenger bird, Hawky who the Bei Fong's had taken care of since we sent them a message from the Fire Nation, and left for Kyoshi. This time it only took us about eight hours to reach our destination, but we didn't stay long at all. Suki told Sokka that after her training was completely finished she would come to live with him in the South Pole, at least until she got sick of the cold. We traveled once more for a day and a half; finally back in the frozen wasteland that was my home.

It was much quieter then what I had remembered, and there seemed to be nothing but miles and miles of ice and snow wherever I looked. I narrowed my eyes as the whiteness blinded me. Sokka who was sleeping beside me snored loudly in my ear, causing my irritation meter to shoot up. I looked at him watching as a slight trace of drool oozed out of the corner of his mouth onto his shoulder. _Men are disgusting._

I turned my head to look at the driver of our ride. Aang was sitting on top of Appa's head, holding the reigns loosely in his hands. I slowly crawled over to the front of the saddle, closest to Aang and sat on my knees. "We're almost there." I said quietly, not wanting to wake my brother up. Aang turned his head to look at me for a minute before turning back to steering. I looked down at the white ground below us once more, thinking of something else to say, something more positive.

"Katara…" Aang began, disrupting my thoughts. I looked at the back of his head, suddenly finding the blue stripe tattoo that ran from the top, down his neck very interesting. "I've been thinking and if you wanted, er….if your dad would let you, you could….well….you don't have to but…maybe you could come back to Ba Sing Se with me. If you wanted."

There was a long silence as my mind processed his words. Go back? Go back to Ba Sing Se, with…_him_? Only him? The two of us living alone _together_, like a _married_ couple? A swarm of desire, fear, nervousness, and confusion swam through my mind as I thought about it, but then reality hit me. "I'd love to Aang…"I said sadly. "But I don't know if my dad would….um…find it appropriate." I watched as Aang's shoulders slumped down and his head dropped slightly. I frowned. "Sorry…"

"It's okay…I was kind of thinking you'd say that." he mumbled. There was a pause. _Katara, say something to him! _I told myself mentally, so I sat up, leaned forward and twined my arms around his neck, resting my head on his shoulder.

"You know what," I cooed in his ear. When he didn't say anything I decided to go on. "I'm going to ask my dad if it's okay. And _if_ he does happen to say yes, then I'll go back to Ba Sing Se with you." I saw Aang's eyes look down at me.

"Really? You'd leave your whole village, your family, just to live with me?" he asked. I nuzzled my face into the crook of his neck, placing a small light kiss on his skin. I felt him shudder underneath the touch of my lips and smiled.

"Of course," I said pulling away to look at him. "You're my family now too Aang, the only difference is you don't have anyone else." Aang pulled one side of his mouth into a smile, but it soon turned into a relived smirk.

"Look, your village!"

Sure enough, about only a few yards in front of us was a small village that consisted of igloo's and rawhide tents. Dozens of people were standing in the middle of everything watching as Appa slowly lowered himself to the ground. Both my father, Hakoda, and my Gran-Gran were in front of everybody, their expressions more then happy.


	2. Two

**Another chapter up. Sorry it's so short, I had a bit of a writers block halfway through and decided to end it with the "mysterious mans" name being given. But I promis the next one will be longer and more interesting. Sadly, not much Kataang in this chap. :( **

* * *

When Appa landed, I swiftly kicked Sokka in the leg as I stood up and grabbed my belongings. "Sokka, we're here!" I shouted at him before jumping to the ground along with Aang. Sokka's eyes bolted open and he looked around dazed. It took him only a few seconds to figure out what was going on, but when he did he was off Appa and to our people two times faster then Aang and I were.

"Gran-Gran!" Sokka and I called in unison as we both threw our arms around our grandmother rather roughly, despite her old age. Gran-Gran stumbled backwards a step before returning the hug.

"We missed you so much!" I cried into her chest. It was the truth, though I didn't really realize it until I saw her again, I really did miss her. Hakoda smiled and put his hands on our shoulders.

"Now, now kids. Let your grandmother be, she's not as nimble as she used to be, remember." Gran-Gran cast my father a sarcastic frown as we switched from hugging her to hugging him.

"We missed you too dad." I told him.

"Yeah," Sokka added. "Even though we only saw you like…a week ago."

I opened my eyes and saw Hakoda looking over at Aang, who was awkwardly standing beside Appa, gazing down at his feet. "Aang!" he called to him. Aang looked up to see him waving his hand to come over. Aang smiled and ran over to join our hug. It was nice, all of us being together like this; it felt like it was so long ago that our family was all together.

Once again, Sokka and I showed Aang around the village. We told him how everything worked, where everything went and what the rules were. Of course Sokka followed us around all day, giving us no "alone time". Thankfully in the late afternoon, my father wanted him to help him with fishing. Aang wanted to go too but when I told him that I wanted to spend some time with him he decided to stay.

"How does it look?" I asked as I stood outside of the changing hut, my eyes trying to somehow stare through the rawhide curtain.

"Bulky." Aang called back to me. I smiled. Inside the hut Aang was changing from his golden traditional robes that Zuko had given him, to a traditional blue Water Tribe parka, pants and kamiks. He had been subtly mentioning how cold it was for almost two hours, and I finally got the hint that he was cold himself. So I decided to fetch him proper Arctic-wear.

"Well get out here and let me see it!" I demanded excitedly. I had to admit, the thought of seeing Aang in something other then Buddhist robes for once since our trip to the Fire Nation made me extremely excited.

"You'll laugh…" was all Aang said in reply. I crossed my arms and leaned my weight on my left leg at this.

"I won't laugh. I promise."

After a minute the curtain slowly pulled to the side and Aang stepped out looking one hundred percent embarrassed. Despite my promise to him, the sight of both his abash expression and the overly large blue parka made me burst out in a short laughing fit, causing his eyebrows to furrow. "You said you wouldn't laugh." He muttered uncomfortably, his steel gray eyes moving to the ground. I shook my head while I tried to bring myself back.

"I'm sorry. It's just…you look so cute. I couldn't help but laugh." I said honestly. It was true; Aang looked adorable in the outfit. It was much like Sokka's Water Tribe attire, only it was five times too big for him, making the parka almost reach the ground. The pants were baggy, but being underneath, you really couldn't tell. And the kamiks, well, they were about the only thing that fit perfectly. All and all, it was probably the first time since I found him that he looked like little boy.

"It's _not_ a compliment for a guy to be called cute." I walked over to him and circled him twice, looking over his outfit more closely.

"Don't worry; Gran-Gran will defiantly be able to hem this. It will look better when it actually fits you." I reassured him clearly. He nodded.

"I sure hope so. I can just hear Sokka now if I walked around for the next couple of days looking like this." We both laughed as pictured the scene playing out. In my mind it would be quiet funny, but at the same time I would feel terrible for Aang who would be the one under attack. "Is your grandmother around now?" he asked me. I shrugged my shoulders.

"Somewhere. We can go find her if you want." I suggested. "I'm assuming Sokka and dad will be back for supper soon anyway."

"What are we having? Stewed…sea prunes?" I smiled as Aang flinched at the word. He really didn't like my favourite food in the world. That could be a problem.

"Actually, I don't think we are. I think it's just fish and Gran-Gran's special arctic salad tonight." Aang smiled ear to ear at this.

"Mmm, the salad sounds like my kind of food." We headed off to find my grandmother which was very easy seen as she was in the middle of the village preparing some kind of stew for the banquet. By the time she was finished hemming Aang's parka, Sokka and the other hunters were back with bags full of fish.

"Looking pretty good there Aang." Sokka said when he saw Aang in his newly fitted Water Tribe outfit. "I'm gonna have to get used to seeing you without your Air Nomad stuff on." Aang buffed his chest out proudly, happy that he no longer looked like a little kid, but kept his expression aloof.

"I'm not staying here that long, Sokka. You'll only have to see me without it for a couple days."

"Wow, you guys got a lot of fish this time." I said, noticing that they had brought back probably about a dozen bags filled to the brim with fish. Hakoda nodded as he walked up beside me and placed the large bag that was slung over his shoulder on the ground.

"Yes, for some reason they were just practically jumping on the boat. There must have been a leopard-seal near by that they were trying to escape from." he said.

"Well, that's pretty lucky if you ask me." Gran-Gran added quietly as she eyed the bag. "The fish haven't been biting that good since I was a little girl."

"Then I suppose we should be thankful to the leopard-seal or whatever it was." Hakoda chuckled. Aang and I looked at each other and smiled. It was good to be home.

* * *

The sun was just starting to set in the Earth Kingdom. The prison that was so lightly guarded the morning before was now being invaded by soldiers who were coming in for the night shift. As they walked through the large stone entrance door, a few of them began to joke about an Earthbending Rumble that they had been to earlier, before parting ways and heading for their stations.

Azula was sitting on the floor of her cell with her back pressed against the cold wall. The guard who was walking down the hallway was singing loudly as he banged on each of the doors as he passed with his fist. When he came to Azula's door he banged extra hard and peered in the window.

"Holding up in there your highness?" he chuckled snidely before moving on. Azula merely smiled back at him, though the appearance of it was not very pleasant. Eventually the sound of the guards singing could be heard no more, and it was clear that he had moved on to the next hallway. Azula began to impatiently tap her finger on her knee as she listened to the voices around her. In one of the cells two men were arguing about the amount of space that they had between themselves, one of them seemed to be getting very irritated. In another, a woman was quietly talking to herself, saying repeatedly that it was going to be okay. Then there was the one that really caught Azula's attention, the cell next to her, where a faint scratching noise was coming from. It sounded as if the man who was in there had some sort of tool and was slowly trying to pry open the door. However, Azula seemed to be the only one who could hear the sound because nobody else was paying any attention. After minutes of listening to the sound, a click rang through her ears and she knew that the man had somehow reached his goal. Another smile spread over her lips and she slowly got up and started to her window.

"What are you doing?" one of the prisoners, a large bald man from across the hallway shouted angrily in Azula's direction. She tried her best to peer through the bars to the cell beside her and saw the man with the black eyes gradually walking out. This time the prisoners did notice and more of them began to yell out at him. He ignored them all and began to walk away from his door. Azula continued to smile as she hung on of her arms through the bars.

"Escaping are we?" she questioned bitingly. The man stopped dead in his tracks and turned his head to look at her, finally giving Azula a better view of his appearance. He was a tall man, rather muscular. His coal black eyes contrasted well with his perfectly tanned skin and black hair. And his clothing was defiantly Earth Kingdom; brown pants, shoes, green top. All and all he was very handsome. "Don't worry," Azula reassured with a wink when he didn't say anything. "I'm not a snitch."

"What do you want?" the man hissed, his voice deep yet very hushed. Azula shrugged.

"I want in, or rather out, if you don't mind." The man narrowed his eyes.

"I'm afraid I do mind."

"That's too bad; I could have helped you become one of the most power beings on the planet." The man continued to look at her, his eyes locked into hers. They were rather large for a male's eyes, and the color was very unnatural looking. Azula couple help but wonder if he had somehow altered the pigment. Her smile grew larger and she rested her head on her arm. "I'm Azula, princess of the Fire Nation, heir to the thrown." She rolled her eyes as she caught her mistake. "Or at least I was until my overindulged little brother took it and locked me away in this slum."

The man raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "You're…the heir to the Fire Nation?" he asked. _As if he didn't know. _

Azula nodded her head. "Was," she corrected. "Yes. But if I could somehow escape this place and take back my rightful place as Fire Lord, I defiantly would be, now wouldn't I?" The man scowled as the rest of the prisoners continued to yell at him. If they didn't stop soon, a guard would defiantly hear and come to check it out. And then nobody would be getting out.

"Yes…I suppose you would." he said finally.

"And if I'm Fire Lord, basically ruler of the world, I would make sure that you would be very, highly rewarded for helping me." She watched as the man's eyes shifted down as she thought it over, then he looked back up.

"Fine." he agreed taking a step towards her cell. But Azula was now looking back down the hallway noticing that they were no longer alone.

"But you better hurry," she urged, the smile finally fading from her lips. "We have company." The man turned around to see a guard standing about five cells away, gazing at him with a puzzled expression, then his eyes narrowed and he began walking towards then, the other inmates urging him on.

"Hey! What are you doing out of your cell?" the guard demanded angrily, readying himself for a fight. But the man with the black eyes just stood there, then, without warning he fell to the limply to the ground. Everyone in the hallway went completely quiet and still as a black ghost like figure shot out of the man and flew into the guard, stopping him.

It all happened so fast, that if you were to blink the moment it happened, you would have surly missed it. Azula's jaw dropped a few inches as she just gapped at the guard who was now standing there calmly, looking down at himself. He leisurely walked over to Azula's cell, took the key out of his pocket and unlocked it, pulling the door open. Azula looked up at him, slightly confused, but the moment she saw his black eyes she smirked.

"Impressive." she said, walking out into the hallway. The guard grinned back at her and grabbed her hands roughly, pulling them both behind her back and securing them with stone handcuffs.

"Play along." He whispered into her ear. She nodded and they both started down the hallway, every pair of eyes glued to them.

"Y-you can't do that!" one man called through his cell. But both Azula and the guard ignored him and kept walking, causing the inmates to once again start yelling after them.

Luckily for the two escapees, there were no guards in the way to the exit of the prison, and as easily as the soldiers had brought her in, this mysterious man who had suddenly changed figures took Azula back out, out into the freedom of the Earth Kingdom.

When they were far enough away of the building, the guard dropped Azula's hands from their bindings just in time for them to hear the extremely loud sound of an alarm sounding from the prison. The pair ran into a nearby patch of trees and ducked down, watching as dozens of guards ran out of the building and off into different directions.

"Hmm." Azula leered. "That seemed too easy."

The guard looked at her but said nothing, then he lied down, resting his head on a rock. "Well, don't you have a name?" Azula asked rudely, lying down as well. The guard inhaled deeply.

"My name…" he started. "Is Longwei."


	3. Three

**Next chapter up. Man, this is probably one of the last "slow" chapters, because we're staring to get into the actual plot now. Kind of. lol, but after this chaper there will definatly be more action and romance. ahha, well...enjoy. **

* * *

After dinner, my family, Aang and I continued to sit in front of the fire, even after everyone else continued on with their day, or night I should say. The sun had long gone down and the moon was high and bright in the sky, making it the second source of light besides the dozens of lit torches that were scattered around the village. My grandmother had just finished telling us the story of what happened when she was reunited with Pakku. They were so happy when they saw each other again, after all these years they were still in love. And it took Pakku everything he had to tear himself away from her again to go back to the North Pole to get more people to come help with the rebuilding of our village. She told us how she never forgot him, and prayed everyday that they would someday meet again. But she had never expected it to actually come true.

"But Gran-Gran," I started, picking up a handful of snow and tossing it into the fire, causing it to hiss and briefly turn a bluish colour. There was still one big gap in her story that I curious about, and I was sure the others were too. "If you loved Pakku all along, why did you leave him and come to the South Pole?" Hakoda and Gran-Gran exchanged a glance before she looked back at me.

"Well…"she began. "When I found out I was to marry Pakku, we were both so young, sixteen to be exact, I was so scared and nervous. And you can imagine how much more scared I became when I found out I was carrying."

I blinked, feeling like I should have known what the reason was. It was so obvious, and the story made so much more sense now. I couldn't believe that I hadn't thought of it. Sokka who had been drawing something in the snow with his finger stopped and gave Kanna a puzzled look.

"Carrying what?" he asked, dumbfound idly. Everyone looked at him. I myself rolled my eyes at his stupidity, and he seemed to see it. He looked at Aang. "What?" he whispered, furrowing his eyebrows. Aang merely shrugged a response. Gran-Gran inhaled, ignoring the situation.

"I was terrified of what Pakku would say and think when he found out, so without telling anyone, I left the North Pole with nothing but my canoe. I traveled weeks through the rough waters, without food, without proper shelter, and being fertile I almost didn't make it. When I finally reached the South Pole, there was nobody there, no village, no people, just snow and ice. I walked for miles, and two days later a girl about my age found me trying to get warm inside a small cave, and brought me to the Southern Water Tribe."

"So you left everything you knew and loved, just because of dad?" I asked frowning. "You were scared that if Pakku found out you were pregnant, he wouldn't want to marry you anymore…and he'd leave you…" Kanna nodded sadly.

"Yes."

I crossed my arms at this and narrowed my eyes, feeling a little bolder on the subject. "But he wouldn't have! If he really did love you, he wouldn't leave. He'd want to support you. I mean…" I turned to Sokka. "Would you leave Suki if that happened?"

Sokka went completely limp and his entire face turned red. His eyes shifted to our father who was eyeing him. "Uhh, that _wouldn't_ happen…" he said weakly, flashing a quick, convincing grin at Hakoda. I looked at them for a second before changing my gaze to Aang.

"What about you… Aang?" I asked him quietly, my eyes looking deep into his. He returned the gaze but stayed quiet, probably wondering if I was being serious or not. Then he began to blush.

"Well…I…" he stuttered, not breaking the gaze once. Hakoda caught this and watched suspiciously. I was waiting for the response, and I could only imagine that the look on my face looked as if my life was hanging on the answer. Unfortunately, before Aang had time to answer Sokka began to laugh.

"Katara, don't ask Aang! The poor kid's probably never had a girlfriend in his life, I mean…" He grabbed Aang's arm and pulled him closer, pointing one finger at his bald head. "Monk, remember! If there's anyone you should be asking its dad. What about it dad, would you leave if mom got pregnant?" Hakoda looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm here right now, aren't I?" Sokka let go of Aang.

"Good point. What I meant to say was, if there's anyone you should be asking it's Pakku…when he gets back of course." Gran-Gran smiled.

"Anyway, if I hadn't of left, your father would have never met your mother, and you two would be here." She said, motioning her head towards Sokka and I.

"True." We said in unison, both of us smiling. Hakoda smiled as well.

"Then, we should be counting ourselves very lucky that things happened the way they did." He said. "It took a while, but now we're all here, together again, well we will be when Pakku gets back. And that's good enough for me." Sokka clapped his hands together.

"To being together again!" he cheered. Gran-Gran and Hakoda repeated him, though when I said it; it wasn't so much of a cheer but more as a guilty mumble. I looked down at the snow, and dipped my eyebrows. Everyone seemed to be so happy being all together again, what were they going to say when I when I told them I was leaving to go live hundreds of miles away.

"Katara…?" Aang whispered as he leaned towards me. "You okay?" I looked at him and forced a smile.

"Yeah." _No._

"Are you sure?"

"Of course." _Not at all. _

I got up and brushed the lose snow off myself. Everyone looked at me. "Where are you going?" Sokka asked nosily. I shook my head.

"Just for a walk." I said, before walking away without another word.

* * *

Both Azula and Longwei were walking down long Earth Kingdom path, trying to quickly stray away from their prison. They had had a two hour nap and were now ready to start their journey back to the Fire Nation so that Azula could take back "her" land. Longwei was walking about two feet in front of Azula and hadn't said anything since they had first woken up.

Azula pursed her lips as she looked at his back. She found it so weird that he had just gone from an Earth Kingdom prisoner, to a Fire Nation guard in only seconds, and she was still curious to how it happened. "So…how'd you do that back there?" she asked, starting conversation. Longwei glanced over his shoulder at her but said nothing. Azula smiled and quickened her pace so that she was walking beside him. "Not talking?" she asked smugly. "Come on we're partners, aren't we?" He looked down and hesitated.

"I'm a Shadowbender." He finally said quietly. Azula's eyebrows rose.

"A shadowbender? I'm sorry, I've never heard of a shadowbender before…enlighten me." Again the man didn't say anything. Azula wondered for a minute if he was going to be like this the whole trip, she hoped not.

"We have the ability to copy someone's image." He told her. "If we hold a gaze with someone for more then three seconds, their life becomes our own."

"Interesting." Azula nodded, truly intrigued by what he was telling her. "Is that why you were in there? You got caught for stealing someone's image?"

"I wasn't meant to be in there. I was only put in there for a couple of day's until they could get me a spot in the Ba Sing Se prison."

"The Prison of Ba Sing Se?" Azula mused. "You must have done something terrible to be put in there?" Longwei looked at her, and even in the dark you could see his mouth set in a frown.

"I did what I had to do!" he said earnestly before looking back ahead. "What about you?" Azula smiled brought her hand up to look at her fingernails. She examined each one slowly and carefully before answering his question.

"Well I wasn't exactly supposed to be in there either, but the mental facility that was supposed to take me was full, so they put me in there for the time being." Longwei gave Azula a look but before anything else could be said, her arm shot up in the air and she pointed at something off in the distance. "Look!" she said sternly. Longwei followed her point. Up ahead, not far away at all was a small city full of lights.

"Where are we?" he asked. Azula lowered her arm, her eyes focused on the lights.

"Gaoling. One of my brother's…allies lives here. A little Earthbender who taught the Avatar Earthbending." Azula scowled at the memories that were coming back to her.

"So…what are you planning to do?" Longwei asked her. Azula looked at him and stopped walking, he did too. What was she going to do? She had an idea, a terrible, violent idea. And with Longwei's help…it might just be possible.

* * *

I was standing just outside of my village, staring up at the sky, watching as the celestial lights wove themselves through the sky. The colours were vivid and bright; blue, pink, green, they were beautiful. I couldn't remember the last time I had seen anything this beautiful, and they reminded me terribly of my mother. When I was little, we would watch them for hours before going to bed. She would tell me stories of how our ancestors were watching over us from the lights and how one day, we would all be up there, shining bright over our children, and our children's children. I guess she didn't know at the time that she would be up there a lot sooner then she thought she would. I sighed and looked straight ahead. "What am I going to do…?" I mumbled to myself. Just then I heard the soft crunch of snow behind my and I turned around.

"Katara?"

Walking over to me was Hakoda, smiling as he came. I turned back around and looked back up at the sky. "Hey dad…" I said as she stood beside me. We stood there in silence for a minute, both of us looking upwards.

"It's beautiful." He said in a hushed tone. I nodded.

"Yeah. It's nights like this I really missed about the South Pole."

"Me too." Another silence. My eyes shifted down. I needed to ready myself to ask him about Ba Sing Se, but I was scared of what his answer would be. If it was no, Aang and I wouldn't probably barley ever see each other, and long-term relationships never work out. But if it was yes, I would feel guilty about leaving him and Gran-Gran. I frowned as I thought about it. Hakoda looked at me and cleared his throat. "So, Aang seems like a nice boy." He said. I looked at him but avoided eye contact.

"He is." I agreed. "He's a great friend." Hakoda raised an eyebrow.

"Just a friend?" he asked. My heart dropped when I heard this and I racked my bran for something to say. How did he know? Was it that obvious? He smiled and looked back at the sky. "You two look at each other the same way your mother and I used to look at each other." Was all he said. I stopped panicking a little bit and took a breath.

"Oh…" I looked back at the sky as well. Hakoda continued to smile.

"I can't believe how fast you're growing up." he muttered. "It seems like just yesterday you were a little girl, wanting me to tuck you in at night. Now look at you…in love." I smiled. It was strange hearing someone else telling me I was in love, because I myself didn't even know if it was true or not. I looked at my father once more to see that the smile was no longer on his face, and I felt a slight trace of remorse. I began to chew on my bottom lip.

"Dad…"I started. He didn't move, nor respond. "Aang…asked me if I wanted to go back to Ba Sing Se with him…and I said I would if you said it was okay." Hakoda still didn't move. I wondered for a minute if he was in shock, or if he was too mad to move. I suddenly wished that I didn't say anything. About two whole minutes of silence went by, so I decided to add something else. "I mean, I understand if you don't want me to, and you think it's inappropriate. I just wanted to ask." I looked down, preparing myself for the let down of a lifetime. Hakoda looked at me, a serious expression on his face.

"Katara, you're my daughter! I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you. It was hard enough for me to let you go to war." He told me. My stomach began to knot and my eyes began to get heavy, I could tell either anger, or tears were not far off. But just when I thought Hakoda was going to tell me no, he smiled. "But…if there is anyone on this Earth, who I trust to protect you…it's the Avatar." Right away, the heaviness went away and I looked up at him, excitement replacing the knot. "I give you permission."

"Dad…"I began, in a reflex protest, but before I had time to say anything else, he put his hand on my shoulder.

"Just promise me that you'll stay out of trouble, and you come to visit." I smiled ear to ear at this and threw myself into his arms, wrapping my own around his stomach.

"I promise!" I cried happily. Hakoda hugged me back.

"I'm going to miss you." He said.

"I'll miss you too dad…I love you."


	4. Four

**Okay so I'm not really satisfied with this chapter, but I'll probably fix it up a bit later. I've been soooo swamped with homework and studying since exams are coming up. I promise I promise I promise once I'm done with all this school stuff, I'll have some better material. Anyway, enjoy! :D**

* * *

Hakoda wrapped his arms around me and embraced me in a tight, fatherly hug. "I'm going to miss you." He mumbled as I nuzzled into him.

"I'll miss you too dad…I love you." I smiled and looked up at him. He was smiling too, but I could sense the tiniest bit of sadness in his expression. I knew that letting go of me was going to be hard on him, but it wasn't like I was leaving forever. I would come back as much as I could for visits, and I'd write all the time. Besides, Sokka would still be here for him, even though Suki was going to show up at anytime, but they would still be here. I let go of Hakoda and backed up a few steps. "Where's Aang?" I asked him. He looked back at the huts behind us and motioned his head.

"I think Sokka was showing him to his hut." He told me. I smiled.

"Thanks dad. I'm going to go tell him the good news." Hakoda smiled again at me as I ran off towards the small hut that was made especially for Aang. Some of the Waterbenders who had come from the North Pole spent all day perfecting the hut, making everything just right for the Avatar. When I got to it I ran inside to see Sokka and Aang both sitting cross-legged in front of a small fire. They looked up at me up at me. "Sokka, do you mind. I need to tell Aang something." I said quickly, making my way to sit between them. Sokka gave me a look.

"Well okay, just feel free to come right in and interrupt our talking?" he said sarcastically.

"Sokka just go!" I narrowed my eyes and leaned my head towards him. He was just sitting there looking at me, lips pursed. Finally he got up and headed to the door.

"Whatever, I'll talk to you later Aang."

"See you Sokka."

When I was sure Sokka was far enough away from the hut, I turned to Aang and grinned. "What…did you want to tell me?" Aang asked slowly, noticing my smile.

"I asked my dad about Ba Sing Se, and he said yes." I watched as his face lit up and he returned the grin.

"That's great!" he said excitedly, pivoting himself so that he was completely facing me. "He didn't have a problem at all with the idea?" I shook my head.

"No. He told me that if there was anyone he wants protecting me, its you." Aang snickered to himself, causing me to raise an eyebrow.

"Well…I am the Avatar." he said pompously. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. If there was one thing that grew over the past few weeks, other then his height, it was his ego. And even though both were barley noticeable to the others, I could spot them from a mile away. The height I didn't mind at all, on the contrary I was actually quite happy when I noticed that he was subtly becoming taller then me. But the ego was something I could live without. Ever since Aang had defected Ozai, everyone had been giving him praise, giving him gifts, inviting him to celebrations, and doing something in his honour. For the first few days he was doing fine with the attention, just the same old Aang. But after about the fourth day of being worshiped and complimented by everyone, his self-admiration sky rocketed. Luckily days of calling him on it paid off, and he tried his best to keep his pride to a minimum.

The smirk fell from Aang's face and was replaced with a frown. "I'm doing it again…aren't I?" he asked cautiously, eyeing my unimpressed look. I nodded slowly at him, and he closed his eyes tightly. "Sorry."

"You're getting better."

"I am trying."

I casually scooted myself closer to him, though he didn't seem to notice because his eyes were now fixated on the fire. "What are you thinking about?" I asked him after a moment of listening to the hissing fire. Aang continued to look but answered my question with a childish smile, the one I hadn't seen since before Sozin's comet.

"I was just thinking," he began. "Do you think we can go penguin sledding tomorrow? You know, like old times." We both laughed, though probably not for the same reason.

"Old times?" I asked. "You make it sound like it was so long ago." Aang laughed again and looked at me, his silver eyes flickering in the light.

"Okay, so maybe not like **old** times. But we should really do it, you know, before we leave for Ba Sing Se." I leaned my head to the side as I thought about it.

"Well, Sokka might want you for some "man-to-man" guy time tomorrow. But I'm sure we can find some time. When are we planning on leaving?" This was a question I was very curious to know the answer of. I wanted to leave as soon as possible to start my new life with the boy I loved, but on the flip side I didn't want to say goodbye to my family.

Aang's eyebrows furrowed and he was silent for a minute, before his face relaxed again. "Umm, well…it's really up to you. Whenever you want to leave, we can." he told me. "But we shouldn't stay here too, too long. I really want to get out of these clothes." Aang looked down at his heavy blue parka. I chuckled and looked at him.

"Okay. Well, why don't we stay two more days?" I asked with a shrug, thinking that this would give me just the right amount of time to gather up the strength to say goodbye. He nodded.

"Two more days, sounds great." he agreed. I smiled and slowly climbed to my feet, Aang did the same. "Are you going?" he asked, sounding disappointed. I looked at him guilty and slowly nodded my head. I knew that it was only a matter of time before either Sokka or my father would come to tell me to get to my own tent, but for some reason I felt like going on my own terms, and not being walked in on.

"Yeah, I'm pretty tired from flying all morning." I said with a yawn. "I think sleeps probably the best thing for me right now." Aang bowed his head for a minute before taking a few steps towards me.

"Okay…" he said.

I quickly wrapped my arms around his neck, pulled myself closer to him so that our chests were barley touching, and lightly pressed my lips to his. He automatically slipped his arms around my waist and I felt his hands meet at the small of my back, pulling me even closer and deepening the kiss. I parted my lips ever so slightly allowing his tongue to immediately plunge into my mouth, running over my own, inside my cheeks and along the back of my teeth. Whenever Aang would kiss me like this, it would always be gentle and hesitant, as if he was scared of something, never once would he ever get rough with me. I was almost certain that he was worried Sokka would walk in on us, and to tell you the truth, I was too.

Since the victory of the comet, Aang and I had been keeping our relationship a secret from everybody, which was much harder then it sounds, trust me, but we had been doing a pretty good job. The only person who I thought might have suspected us was Toph, who for the last couple of days was very suggestive towards us. Luckily for us, Sokka had been left completely in the dark and seemed nowhere near the light. This was probably a good thing, because if he did manage to find out he would probably be very upset with us hiding it from him. I tried as much as I could not to think about that happening though.

Aang and I finally let go of each other and parted, both of us gasping for air. I smiled when I finally gathered another breath and crossed my arms. "Well, I should…go." I said. He nodded and smiled as well.

"Kay."

"I'll see you in the morning." I turned around and slowly headed towards the "door".

"Goodnight."

In the morning I woke up to find that Aang and Sokka had indeed went out hunting. So for most of the morning I was stuck doing chores with my grandmother while Hakoda, his friend Bato, and some previous Northern Water Tribe members discussed more plans to rebuild the village. By early afternoon, the boys still hadn't returned and I was beginning to think that they had strayed from their "hunting" and got side tracked by goofing off. It wasn't until about I finally saw them running over the horizon, that I suspected I was wrong.

"KATARA! GET DAD!" I heard Sokka yelling from the distance, his voice filled with fear. I continued to look at them for a minute, wondering if this was some kind of sick joke. But then I noticed the familiar red hawk flying behind them, and the large parchment Sokka was clutching in his hand. I turned around and dashed towards the hut my father was in and ripped open the curtain.

My father and the other men were sitting around a round table in the middle of the hut, looking down at the blueprints of a healing hut they were planning on making. They all looked up at me. "Dad," I said unsurely. "I think Sokka's in trouble."

My father and I bolted out of the hut just in time to be met by Sokka and Aang who stopped running. "Sokka, what's wrong?" Hakoda asked as he watched Sokka try to catch his breath. The red hawk, Hawky that I hadn't seen since our days in the Fire Nation perched on his shoulder and made a low gurgling noise. Sokka pushed the parchment to Hakoda.

"This…" he panted. "Came from Gaoling." Hakoda took it, opened it and began to read.

"Toph's city?" I asked as I watched my father's eyes move quickly back and forth across the paper, then I looked back at Sokka. "What happened?"

Hakoda closed the parchment back up and looked at us. "It was attacked." My eyes widened when I heard this, and panic set in.

"What?" I demanded turning on Aang. "What about Toph? Where is she? Is she okay?" Aang, who had been bent over in an attempt to regain his breath straightened up and opened his mouth to say something.

"We don't know. But this letter was written from her." Sokka rushed before Aang could say anything. I furrowed my eyebrows.

Over the few months we had known Toph, I had grown to love her as a best friend. And even though we didn't get along all the time, I wouldn't know what to do with myself if anything happened to her. She was my friend; the first real girl friend I had had since I was a little kid, losing her would be like losing a family member.

"Well what are we going to do? We can't just sit here and do nothing!" I snapped at him, throwing my hands in the air.

"I'm going to go to Gaoling." Aang said trying to stay calm, but I could sense that he was worried too. I narrowed my eyebrows.

"You're going? What about us?" I asked motioning to Sokka and I. Aang looked at us.

"Katara, don't you want to spend some time with your family?" he asked, dipping his eyebrows. I looked at Hakoda.

"Well, yes. But right now I think seeing if Toph is okay is a little more important." I said. Sokka crossed his arms.

"And I'm defiantly going! If anything happened to Toph…I swear I'll…" Sokka clenched his fists and looked down. I knew that he too felt the same way about Toph that I did, like she was our family. I placed my hand on Aang's shoulder, causing him look at me.

"The point is Aang, we're all family. We're going with you." Aang hesitated before nodding.

"You kids are going to need some supply's," Hakoda started. "Just in case."

* * *

**I didn't mean for this chapter to be this short, but like I said...I have way to much homework. Promise next chapter will make up for this one. :)**


	5. Five

**Another chapter up. I'm actually pretty proud of this one, its a little bit more interesting then the last two. And if anyone if wondering I would just like to tell them that yes, there is going to be ALOT more Kataang as the story goes on, these first chapters are just a bit slow. Well Enoy** :)**

* * *

As Sokka and Aang piled all of the supplies onto Appa's back, I stood back with my father and grandmother, saying our much too soon goodbyes. I knew that Hakoda was a little disappointed in seeing us leave again so suddenly, especially because he now knew that his time with me was limited.

"You'll be carful?" he asked me, placing a strong hand on my shoulder. I looked up at him.

"We'll be very carful dad, I promise. Don't forget who you're talking too, all three of us saved the world before." I said with a wink. He forced smiled.

"I know, I know."

Gran-Gran frowned at me. "It's a shame you have to go so soon. Pakku was going to be home any day; he would have loved to have seen you again." she said sadly.

"Next time, Gran." I promised her, giving her a tight hug. Sokka walked over to us and pulled my arm.

"We're ready." he announced, hinting for me to go. I nodded, said goodbye to my family and rushed over to join Aang on Appa. Sokka, who was now a little bit taller as well, looked down at Kanna.

"Be careful Sokka." she said to him as they quickly embraced.

"I will Gran-Gran." He then faced Hakoda and hugged him as well. "I'll be back soon dad." he muttered, gloomily. Just as I had felt a strong connection with our mother, Sokka had felt one with dad, and I knew that it was defiantly going to be a little hard for him to leave him again. But Hakoda just smiled sadly and returned the hug. Then, after a few seconds his expression turned serious and he let go of Sokka, holding him by the shoulders so that he go nowhere.

"Watch after you sister and make sure nothing happens to her." he ordered quietly, his eyes flashing back towards me and Aang who were discussing the estimate time it would take to get to Gaoling. Sokka gave him a confused look.

"Sure dad. You know I will. And when I can't, Aang always can. Avatar, remember." Hakoda looked down at his son with a slightly chafe expression, but shrugged it off. He patted his shoulders, and then dropped his arms.

"Right. Well, you should get going, your friend needs you." Sokka nodded and began to run back to Appa.

The ride to Gaoling seemed longer then the last time we had gone to even though it was probably shorter, and after almost two day's of traveling, we were terrified of what we were going to find when we did arrive there. The sun had gone down almost two hours before, and we were still looking for the many lights of the vivacious city, but we could see nothing but darkness.

"That's weird…" Sokka said trying to read the map he had brought. "I was so sure Gaoling was around here somewhere. You'd think with a city as big as that, we'd see some lights." Aang who was sitting on Appa's head steering, squinted his eyes.

"Wait, I think I see something!" he said loudly, pulling on Appa's reins to make him go downward. I looked down as well but saw nothing other then a few dark shadows of what might be houses of some kind.

"This can't be Gaoling Aang. Those are just a few run down shacks, Gaoling is a city!" Sokka huffed, crossing his arms. But Aang ignored him and landed Appa anyway. We all jumped off, and looked up. I gasped. Right in front of us was large sign, half of it singed to a crisp. But even though it was dark, and even though there was only half, you could clearly read the bold white words that were printed on the wood "Welcome to Gao-".

"I think this is Gaoling, Sokka…" I whispered, taking in the horrifying sight of the dozen houses that were left from the once vast city. He shook his head.

"No…it can't be. Maybe this is…Gaoshei. Or maybe Gao Lin Di. You never know." Aang started to walk towards the houses, Sokka and I followed.

"I don't think so, Sokka." he said, his voice filled with fear and sadness. As we walked through the ghost town we looked all around. Everywhere there was rubble of what once were houses and buildings. The ground around us was black; there was no grass, no plants, no sign of life.

"We're too late…" I choked out, my eyes filling with tears. Sokka halted to a stop. Aang and I stopped a few feet ahead of him and looked back.

"No! There's got to be at least some survivors!" he snapped, balling his hands into fists. "We'll split up; Katara, you go look through the houses that are still standing! Aang, you go look through the rubble! I'll head over to the Bei Fong residence and see if Toph's okay." Without fully agreeing, we all rushed off in different directions to start our search.

The first house I went to was a small stone two story. It was dark and empty inside, everything had been burnt down. I found nothing on the first floor, so I decided to go upstairs, but when I got to the top of the stairwell, I stopped mid step. Because it was dark I couldn't see one hundred percent clearly, but I knew when I saw the thin white limb that was lifelessly sticking out of the coal black rubble that a child lived in this house. My stomach churned and I felt as though I was going to vomit, so I immediately backed down the stairs, my hand covering my mouth. When I got to the bottom, I put my back against the wall and slid down to the floor, tears falling down my cheeks.

After a half an hour of searching and failing to find anything, Sokka, Aang and I met up where we had separated. "Did you guys find anything?" I asked, the disturbing images I had found in the houses still in scripted in my mind. Aang shook his head.

"Well…I didn't find Toph…" he said quietly, and I was sure he had probably seen the same thing as I did. I turned to my brother.

"Sokka?" Sokka looked down, his eyebrows scrunched together.

"No. The Bei Fong residence was burnt to a crisp. No one was there…" he said, sounding as if he was about to burst into tears. We all stood there for a minute in silence, all of us looking at the ground.

"Did you say the Bei Fong residence?" a voice suddenly said from behind us. We all spun around to see a group of ragged looking people standing there. Aang grabbed my arm and pulled me behind him in a protective manor.

"Who are you?" he asked roughly.

"I am Muta."

The voice was coming from an old man in the front of the group. He was short and scruffy looking, his thick gray beard and moustache covering most of his face, and his lanky body looked as if it was about to give out at any second. "I used to be a shopkeeper in a small food market in Gaoling. I hid all of these people in my underground storage room when those Firebenders came." Sokka's eyes widened and he quickly began searching the group of people for Toph.

"An underground bunker?" he repeated in question. Aang relaxed a bit and raised an eyebrow.

"Did you say Firebenders did this?" he asked. Muta nodded and gestured his head towards the rubble.

"Yes, two of them arrived about two nights ago in the middle of the night. Burnt almost everything down, we're all that's left." he told us sadly.

"What happened to the Bei Fong family?" I asked, not sure if I really wanted to know the answer. All I could picture was the child's arm I had seen in the debris being Toph, and I didn't like it. Muta scratched his chin.

"Well, I think the mister and misses were one of the firsts to be killed…"

"What about their daughter!" Sokka demanded, walking over to Muta. "A little blind girl about this tall, black hair, wears green!" Muta gapped at him for a minute, and a few of the others behind him whispered.

"The Bei Fong's didn't…have a daughter." Muta said. Sokka clenched his teeth and for a minute I was scared he was going to hit the man.

"Yes, they do!" he snapped angrily. "Her name is Toph! She's about this tall, black hair, wear's gre-"

"Sokka." I said, silencing him. "Mr. and Mrs. Bei Fong hid Toph from the city. Remember? These people wouldn't know her." Sokka frowned when he realised what I was saying was true. Just then, a woman who was holding the hand of a small boy spoke up.

"Wait! The two Firebenders… they took a small black haired girl who I have never seen before towards the mountains."

"That's got to be Toph!" Aang said as we all looked at each other in agreement.

"Then it looks like we're heading to the mountains." With that, Sokka and I turned around and rushed off towards Appa, leaving Aang still standing there with the group of people.

"Where will you go?" he asked them. Muta looked down.

"We'll go to our neighbouring town and see if we can move there. If not we'll head to Ba Sing Se." he told him, a bit unsurely. Aang nodded, wished them luck and followed us to Appa.

The mountains where close, their tall dark peeks were clearly visible from Gaoling, so we thought it wouldn't take too long to get there, unfortunately not two minutes after taking off it began to rain, the black storm clouds making it even darker then it already was, but we tried our best to look. Appa twined himself between the mountains; Aang, Sokka and I looking intensely for anything that didn't look like it belonged. After about an hour is searching restlessly, we decided to take a break before the rain got any worse and landed in a small mountain cave.

Sokka pulled his shirt off of his back, wrung it out and sat down on the cave floor. "How are we supposed to find anything if this rain keeps up?" he asked, tossing his shirt closer to the small fire that I had started so it would dry faster, it landed beside me. I was sitting on my knees with my hands held over the flames, trying to get warm.

"We'll find her Sokka." I reassured him, pulling my legs to the side so that I was a little more comfortable on the hard rock ground.

"Katara's right," Aang said, walking over to us, placing his tunic beside Sokka's shirt and sitting down as well. "We will find her. Besides, this rain won't last forever."

I couldn't help but find myself casually side glancing his muscular build. This of course hadn't been the first time I had seen him shirtless, but there was something about the way the fire reflected off his skin that made him look even more grown up. The moment his eyes met mine I looked away quickly and blushed. A small smile spread over his face and he looked into the fire.

Little did any of us know, on one of the mountains hills directly across from us, two pairs of eyes watched us furtively.

"Look's like they caught up no problem," Longwei said blandly, staring with lidded eyes at the fire's glow from across the way, and the three people who sat around it. Azula who was standing beside him smiled.

"Of course the did, I told you they would." She turned around to look inside of the dark cave, the only source of light was a small fire set almost at the very back. Beside it was a small girl, bound by her feet and hands by strong, rough ropes. And around her head, through her mouth was a cloth strip gag, making sure she could call out. Toph.

For a moment she seemed to be unconscious, but as Azula stopped in front of her, her misty eyes opened. Azula's mouth twisted into a contorted grin. "You're lucky to have such loyal friends." she said. "Too bad you won't have them too much longer."

Toph twisted on the ground, trying to get in a more suitable position to try to pull some Earthbending move out on Azula. But it didn't seem to work and she just fell to her side. Azula chuckled to herself before bending over, grabbing Toph by the collar of her nightwear and pulling her to sit up once more. She then ripped the cloth from her mouth so that it fell around her neck. Toph worked her jaw, happy to finally have it free for the first time in days. Azula watched her for a minute, before continuing. "Although, compared to your little _city_, they should be a slight challenge. Especially when I has the _whole_ gang ready." She waited for a response, but Toph said nothing, she seemed almost lifeless. "Don't let it get you down though," Azula started, crouching down so that she was at eye level with her hostage. "At least you'll still have your family. Oh…wait." Finally Toph looked up, her expression filled with sadness, confusion and rage. Azula's smile widened. "I have to give it to them though; they were both very eager to survive. I almost regretted destroying them." A single tear fell from Toph's eye and she closed them. "But I had to do what I had to do."

"You're lying…" Toph mumbled so quietly Azula almost didn't hear here. Azula merely shook her head and stood straight up again.

"No, I'm not. And I think you know that, don't you?" Once again Toph became quiet, her mouth curling into a pressed frown as she fought back the urge to cry. Azula laughed to herself and pulled the gag back over her mouth. Longwei walked over to them, his arms crossed and his lips pursed.

"What do we do now that they're here, your hieness?" he asked. Azula looked at him and sighed, as if annoyed that he needed to ask.

"Nothing yet. For now, we just let the plan unfold."


	6. Six

**Sorry this chap is bad. I have exams this week and have been studying and busy and blaah. I can't wait until they're over. Also, sorry this is late. It's going to be a lot easier to write _good _stuff during summer. Anyway, enjoy. :)**

* * *

By the time the rain stopped, the sun was just beginning to rise, which was probably an advantage for our search. I yawned as I slowly got up from the spot I had been sleeping on the cold cave floor and pushed the hair out of my face. Sokka who had fallen asleep beside was already awake and ready to go. He was carefully piling our sleeping bags onto Appa's saddle. Aang was also up, but he didn't seem as awake as Sokka did, as he was just sitting on a large rock, his back pressed to the wall and his eyes half closed.

"Well, are we ready to go?" Sokka asked, turning around to face us. Both of us just looked at him for a minute, too tired to say anything. Aang nodded slowly and slid down from the rock.

"Yeah, we are." he said. Sokka nodded and heaved himself up on Appa, Aang and I followed close behind him. Appa gave out a loud moan as we stepped out of the dark cave and into the bright light, then took flight.

"It will easier to see what we're doing now that its day." Sokka said seriously, his eyes locked on the mountains in front of us. "We'll search until noon, and if we don't find anything we'll keep going forward. The Firebenders might already be half way to Ba Sing Se for all we know." I looked down at the landscape below us. It was true; Toph might not even be in the mountains anymore, this could all just be a waist of time. But just then, my eyes caught a glimpse of something off coloured. Sitting on a small ledge of the mountain far below us, was a small jade shape, lying completely still. My eyes widened.

"I see something!" I shouted excitedly. Aang and Sokka quickly appeared at my side, looking downward as well. Aang squinted his eyes.

"It's her." As fast as we could, we turned Appa around and headed down towards the ledge. Sure enough, when we landed we could see the clear view of Toph laying flat of her back, unconscious. We jumped down from Appa's back and ran over to her.

"Toph!" I yelled, dropping to my knees beside her and checking for the pulse in her wrist. Thankfully I found one no problem. Aang crouched down beside me and looked sadly at our friend.

"Is she okay?" he asked quietly. I nodded, but did not take my eyes off of her.

"She's fine."

Sokka who was hovering over my shoulder was looking down at the situation with a feared look on his face. "Toph, can you hear me?" he said loudly, trying to get her to show some sign of vocal or physical life. "Toph. TOPH!" A few seconds went by with a bitter dead silence, but soon enough Toph's eyes slowly batted open. Aang, Sokka and I held our breaths as we waited in angst for her to say something. But all of a sudden without warning her fist shot up and hit me square in the jaw, hard, causing me to fall backwards onto my back. As Toph quickly scurried a couple feet away from us I let out a cry of pain and clutched my jaw. Her eyes widened.

"Katara…is that you?" she asked, surprised. Aang and Sokka both helped me to me back up again, each of them taking one of my arms.

"Yeah, and me and Aang are here too." Sokka said, letting go of me.

"Sokka? Aang? Wait, what the heck are you guys doing here? I thought you were going back to the South Pole."

A silence came over us all as we just stared. "Uh, we did go back to the South Pole," Sokka started. "Until we got your letter and came here to help."

Toph raised an eyebrow. "Help?"

I decided to take Toph aside and tell her everything that had happened. I figured the shock from taking everything in had probably just blocked it out of her memory temporarily, but as I told her the story, it seemed she didn't know any of it. When I was finished my part, Sokka filled in for me and I went over to join Aang who was sitting on the end of the ledge. I sat beside him.

"She doesn't remember anything." I said, looking out at the forest below us. "It's almost like her mind was just wiped clean." Aang leaned his head to the side so that he could get a better view of Sokka and Toph. They were sitting on the opposite side of the ledge with their backs turned to us.

"Did you tell her about her parents?" he asked me quietly. I shook my head.

"No…Sokka's doing that now." Aang pursed his lips for a minute before looking back at the forest. "So now what are we going to do now that we found her?" I asked. He looked at me.

"Go back to Ba Sing Se, try to find Zuko. Maybe he'll know something about two rebellious Firebenders. He is the Fire Lord."

"He's only been the Fire Lord for couple weeks, Aang."

Before Aang could say anything, Sokka rejoined us, pushing himself right in between us and sitting down. I gave him a look of annoyance. "So how'd it go?" Aang asked him. Sokka sighed.

"Better then I thought it would. I don't think she believed me at first. But when she finally did, she said she just wanted to be alone."

"It's probably best for now." Aang stood up and stretched his arms over his head, Sokka watched him.

"So what's the plan?" I stood up as well and brushed myself off.

"We're going to Ba Sing Se." Sokka nodded.

"Are we leaving now?" Aang looked at Toph who was still sitting with her back turned to us. She didn't seem to be crying, or mourning at all, she was just sitting extremely still.

"No, we'll stay for a bit longer, just to let her cool down. Then we'll go."

We stayed on the ledge for about an hour, Toph never once moving from her spot. Finally after about an hour she got up and walked over to us, nothing in her emotion seemed to be out of the ordinary. She walked over to me and motioned her head to Appa.

"So where are we going now?" she asked, her voice also normal. I blinked and looked blankly at her.

"Uh, Ba Sing Se. We're going to try to find Zuko." I said quietly. She nodded and sighed.

"Well, don't you think we should go before it gets too late? It does take awhile to get there you know." She said this loudly enough for Aang and Sokka to hear her, and they both nodded.

We flew straight for three days to Ba Sing Se, stopping only once for a quick break so that Appa could rest, then we were flying again. The whole ride, Toph was herself. Laughing, making fun a Sokka, teasing Aang, making snide comments. It was as if nothing had happened. When we got there, it was midnight and we were all exhausted. Appa landed softly on the front yard of Aang's estate, we all jumped down

"Finally, we're here." Toph huffed, putting her hands on her hips and pushing her back out, causing it to crack loudly. She, Sokka and I were all heading towards the house.

"I am going…straight to bed, I'm so tired." Sokka said, slumping his shoulders as he walked, letting his arms hang in front of him. I stopped walking when I noticed that Aang was not with us and turned around. He was standing beside's Appa's head, stroking his long tangled fur. I leaned my head to the side and crossed my arms, trying to somewhat warm myself from the chilly night air.

"Aren't you coming?" I asked with a small smile. He looked at me and stayed quiet for a minute.

"Yeah, I'll be in, in a minute." I nodded and continued to the house.

The house itself was a very large mansion made up of three floors. On the first was the kitchen, a dinning room, two "family" rooms, and a bathroom. On the second floor: Sokka's room, Toph's room, Suki's room, another bathroom and my room. And finally on the top floor, was Aang room and a large meditation room, which he said he needed. I made my way up the first set of stairs wondering where this whole "firebender problem" was going to take us. It would probably turn into yet another thrilling adventure, or maybe that was just what I was hoping for. When I got to my room a closed the room and flopped down on my bed, laying on my back and smiling. This was _my_ room, and I loved everything about it. The soft bed and pillows, the way the sun shone perfectly in the windows every morning when I woke up, and the smell, it reminded me of terribly of Aang. And just that was enough to make me believe everyday was the best day of my life.

As I was thinking about this, as if on cue, there was a knock at my door and I looked up. "Yes?" I called, sitting up. The door opened and Aang walked in, his expression worn out. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Aang, are you alright?"

"Not really," he confessed slowly making his way over to be and sitting down beside me.

"What's wrong?" I asked. He sighed and then started to rant.

"It's just; I thought this whole war thing was over. I beat Ozai; the Firebenders are supposed to not attack anyone. And now this. I let a whole city be burned down, and now those Firebenders are probably on the move to some other city." He said worriedly. I could see the distress in his eyes and frowned.

"Aang," I started. "It was bound to happen that someone in the Fire Nation would try something. It was just a matter of time, and it's not your fault. You'll find out who it is, and you'll stop them." I reassured him.

"I know…but…I just wish I could have been there. I mean, Toph lost her parents because of it."

"I know…" Aang sighed again and hung his head. "I just thought it was going to be easy from here on out. No more wars, no more rebellions. Just peace and a life time with you." He looked up at me and gave me a crooked smile, his cheeks turning crimson. I laughed.

"Corny, Aang." I mumbled with a smile as I slowly leaned closer to him. He chuckled and leaned in as well.

"I know."

As our lips met my stomach turned and after a minute, I allowed my arms to snake around his neck, pulling him down as I laid on my back so that he was hovering over me, kissing me passionately. Even with my eyes closed, I could feel them slowly rolling back into my head as his lips moved from my lips to my jaw line, down my neck, and back up to my ear where he slowly ran his tongue along the lobe. I shivered and let out a light moan. I _loved_ when he would do this. When he was finished with my ear, he moved back to my mouth. My arms gripped tighter around his neck, and I found my hands caressing the back of his head. I often wondered what it would be like if he had hair again, the fun I could have running my fingers through it and pulling it slightly when I felt the urge. But being a monk and all, Aang rarely ever had hair, in fact the only time I had seen him with hair was when he awakened from being shot with lighting by Azula.

I jerked when I felt his hand suddenly running along my right leg, pushing my skirt up until he was at my mid thigh. The touch of his hand was intoxicating on my skin, I and he slowly ran it up and down my leg, I strangely felt my lower abdomen begin to burn. I had felt this a few times before, and I was pretty sure of what it was. I was a growing girl, a fifteen year old young woman who had humanly desires and needs. And, I had a boyfriend, a boyfriend who I loved and who loved me back. But I knew neither of us were really ready for anything really physical at the moment, so I did my best to push the feeling aside every time. Aang finally pulled away from me and we both tried to regulate the rhythm in our breathing which had quickened tremendously. Aang looked down at me and removed his hand from my thigh. I could feel his breath on my face every time he exhaled, and my eyes opened.

"I better go. We'll need to be up early tomorrow to find Zuko." Aang said in-between pants. I nodded, not once removing my gaze from his.

"Yeah. Good plan." I said, relieved that the burning feeling was subsiding. I dropped my arms from around his neck, watched as he got up before sitting up myself. Aang straightened himself up and cleared his throat, a dark blush still on his face. I smiled when I saw this. I could still make him blush.


	7. Seven

**Blaah, another meh chapter. Finally schools over today though, thank god. So hopfully I can pick up the slap over summer vacay. Hey, the movie comes out in two days people. Exciting. Well, enjoy. XD**

It took me longer then expected to fall asleep that night, which was very unfortunate considering I was very tired. But I just couldn't stop thinking about my relationship with Aang. If there was one thing I was sure of, it was that I loved him more then I had ever loved anyone before, I would do anything for him, and I knew he felt the same way. But even though we loved each other that much, our relationship so far hadn't gotten past passionate kissing, and minor groping. Not that I was complaining, because I defiantly wasn't. But like I said before, I had certain needs and desires. I had liked Aang for almost a year, and loved him for more then half. Despite going out for only three and a half weeks, I wanted to take our relationship to the next level, even if that was just removing articles of clothing.

I squirmed a bit in my bed as I thought about this. I felt slightly perverted thinking about ways to seduce my thirteen year old boyfriend, and mentally slapped myself when I found that the pictures of it happening in my head, were much more clear then I had intended them to be. Maybe I would wait a little longer to try anything like that, besides we had more things to worry anyway.

When I finally fell asleep, it seemed like only minutes later I was waking up. The bright morning light shinning through my eyelids from the open windows behind my bed. I scrunched my eyes closed even more then they already were, rolled over and buried my face in my pillow, trying to shield them from the light. Then, I tried to fall back asleep, but after about five minutes of trying I gave up all together, and started to get ready for the day. I brushed my teeth, did my hair, got dressed, and headed downstairs.

The house was quiet, and it seemed like no one was even home. I searched all the rooms, finally finding Sokka in one of the family rooms, sitting on a chair and fiddling with a small beaded chain of some sort.

"Where is everyone?" I asked leaning against the doorframe. He looked up from what he was doing and gazed at me. Two large purple bags were highly visible underneath his eyes, which were both slightly bloodshot.

"Aang went to the Dragon to find Iroh, Toph's upstairs." He mumbled, turning back to the chain. I nodded but didn't move.

"You look tired…"I pointed out. He snorted.

"Yeah, I didn't get much sleep. Toph was up all night crying." That was right. Toph and Sokka's rooms were right beside one another, with a thin layer of wall in between them. So any little noise in one would defiantly be able to be heard in the other. I furrowed my eyebrows and crossed my arms.

"She was crying? Didn't you go see if she was okay?" I asked. He shook his head.

"No… I thought it was best to just leave her alone." I nodded again, hesitated then turned on my heels and headed back up the stairs. Poor Toph, she had been crying all night and no one even went in to comfort her. Yes, she probably wanted a little alone time, but she had all night. It was time for someone to be there for her.

When I got to her door, I pressed one side of my face to the door and listened deeply. Inside of the room, I could hear soft sniffling, and I realised Toph was awake. Quietly and hesitantly, I pushed open the door. Toph was sitting on the side of her bed, staring down at her feet, letting tears land on the hard wood floor below. Our rooms were much alike, although she had no carpet, no balcony and it was slightly smaller. She looked up at me and quickly dried her eyes.

"Oh Katara….it's you…" she mumbled, turning her face away as I walked over and sat down beside her. My eyebrows furrowed as I saw the pained expression on her face; her eyes were a mess, red and swollen, and her face was pale.

"Are you okay Toph?" I asked, putting and arm around her shoulders, resting my hand on one of them and giving it a light squeeze.

"I wasn't crying," she hissed in defence, trying to jerk away from me, but my hold was too strong and her attempts and voice weakened. "I was just…" Before she said anything else, Toph leaned into me and began cry, tears among tears flowing down her round cheeks. I didn't really know what to do at first, the sudden impact from her head on my shoulder surprised me. But then I just laid my head on top of hers and held her, it was all I could think of.

"It's okay Toph…"I mumbled reassuringly, memories of the death of my own mother filling my head once more. Toph merely held desperately onto my arm and continued to cry.

"I miss them s-so much," she sobbed. "But I feel really stupid for crying like th-this. It m-makes me look weak, and I'm…I'm not." I closed my eyes and took a breath.

"I know how you feel. " I said. "What it feels like to lose someone you love. I know. I felt the same way when my mother died, I thought the same thing you do, that crying makes you look weak. But I was wrong…it doesn't…it means you care." Toph's crying lightened slightly as she tried to listen to my quiet story, and I soon found a tear running down my own cheek. "I didn't cry at first, when my mother was killed. I kept everything bottled inside of me, because I thought that's what I was supposed to do. I mean…my father didn't even cry when it happened." I then opened my eyes as a small flashback came to mind.

_It was about a week after my mother's death, and I was cold in my hut, so I left to go join my father. But when I got outside he was standing there looking up at the celestial lights. I stood there for a minute looking up at him. "Daddy…?" I whispered wondering what he was doing. He turned his head right away to look at me, and what I saw brought tears to me eyes. He was crying, my father, Hakoda Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, the strongest man I knew was crying. _

_"Katara…"he cried bending down so that I could rush into his arms. We both stood there in the snow for a long time that night. That was the first time I cried from my mothers death, and the last time I saw Hakoda cry. _

"I'll never forget that look in his eyes…" I muttered into Toph's hair. Toph dried her eyes on her arm and snuggled closer to me. I wrapped my arms around her and brushed the hair out of her face, much like a mother would to her child, holding her close to me.

"I don't want them to be gone…"she continued to cry. "I know I used to say I hate them…but I don't. I really love them." It was then that Toph completely broke down, and she began to cry, and scream so dramatically, I didn't know what to do. Tears started to stream down my own face, and for some reason I felt the pain of losing my mother, all over again.

* * *

Aang was sitting at a small round table in the Jasmine Dragon Tea Shop. He had been waiting there ever since the vice manager of the shop had told him that Iroh had been invited to a small breakfast with the Earth King and wouldn't be back for a few hours, and insisted that he wait there until he did. He tapped his fingers impatiently on the tables surface and gazed down at the ground. A group of four girls walked into the tea shop and spotted him. They immediately began whispering, giggling and walked over. Aang's grey eyes shifted up to them and he smiled.

"Hi ladies." he announced them loudly. They all giggled again and the one in the front, the smallest and prettiest of the girls stepped forward, placing one hand on the table and bending over slightly, insuring that her cleavage was now right in front of Aang's vision.

"You're the Avatar?" the girl asked, though it sounded more like she was telling him he was. Aang looked into the girls green eyes, his own briefly stopping at her chest before continuing, and continued to smile.

"That's me. Avatar Aang." The girl lidded her eyes in a seductive way and bit her bottom lip, which was heavily glossed with pink lip stick.

"My friends and I wanted to know if you wanted to come to my house later for a little party we're having." She pressed her upper arms closer to her body, making her cleave even more noticeable. Aang gawked at it for a minute before looking back at her face.

"Sure," he said causing the girls to smile excitedly. He then raised an eyebrow and twisted his smile into a smirk. "But is it okay with you that I bring my_ girlfriend _with me." At once the girls stopped smiling and the one who was leaning on the table straighten up, giving him a confused hurt look.

"Girlfriend?" she repeated. Aang laughed inside at the girls puzzled look and wondered what it was going to be like when he told the rest of the world about his relationship with Katara.

"Yeah," he nodded. "But I guess that's a no." The girl hesitated and forced a smile.

"N-no. You can bring her…"she mumbled, her eyes moving to the ground. Aang shook his head.

"No that's okay, I just remembered I have something to do later anyway. You girls have fun though." She nodded and backed up to her friends once more.

"Well…bye." Was the last thing she said before they all went over to their own table across the room. Aang watched them for a minute, they were still causally casting strange looks at him, but he didn't care.

"Avatar Aang?" a voice called from the door way of the tea shop. Aang looked over to see Iroh smiling, and walking over to him. He stood up.

"Iroh," he said, happy that was man was finally here. "Please, just call me Aang."

"What are you doing back so soon from the Southern Water Tribe? I thought you were staying there until the end of the week?"

"I was, but something happened. Actually, that's why I'm here." Aang sat back down at the table and motioned Iroh to do the same. He caught the gesture, and right away sat down beside him.

"What's wrong?" he asked, keeping his voice low. Aang leaned closer to him.

"Gaoling was burned down by two Firebenders the other day." He explained quietly. Iroh raised an eyebrow and frowned.

"The whole city of Gaoling was burned down, by just two Firebenders?" he questioned, a hint of disgust in his tone. Aang nodded.

"Yes. So we came back here to try to find Zuko, you know, to help us out. You don't know where he is…do you?" Iroh thought about it for a minute, his eyes looking down at the table.

"I have not heard from Fire Lord Zuko for days, but the last time I did hear from him, he was heading to Dichio." Aang raised and eyebrow.

"Dichio," he repeated. "Dichio…where is that again?" he asked. Iroh cleared his throat.

"It is a small town just beyond the Serpents Pass."

"Well, what if he's not there? We'll never be able to find him."

"You will find him." Iroh reassured. "But I think your best bet would be to wait here. I think he was coming back after he was finished in Dichio, only for a short time though. He should show up any day now." Aang nodded.

"Okay, so we'll wait. If you here anything from him, please, tell me right away." Iroh smiled and nodded.

"Of course."


	8. Eight

**Just got back from the movie. Man, did anyone else on here see it? I thought it was pretty good, kind of rushed, and Katara had her *cough* back acting moments *cough* but I thought it was pretty good. I'd give it 3 and a half/5, kinda want to see it again. But anyway, two chapters in one week. Wow, I'm on a roll. lol, but the movie really got me in the Avatar spirit so I had to write another one. *sighs* I have a feeling this fic might be finished by the end of summer. MIGHT! XD Enjoy.**

* * *

In a petty little Earth Kingdom village, miles away from Ba Sing Se, Azula and Longwei were hiding themselves in an empty alleyway, which was so dark and filled with barrels and garbage, ongoing people did not notice at all. Longwei was sitting himself against the wall while he watched Azula pace back and forward in front of him. His appearance was no longer the prison guard he was before, but now a tank Earthbender; dusty brown hair, rich olive skin, and muscular features. His eyes though, were still the same coal black, Azula came to the conclusion that no matter who he changed into to, his eyes would remain this colour.

"So what's our next step, princess?" he asked after a couple minutes of watching her. Azula raised her hand to silence him and continued to pace. Longwei exhaled deeply and looked at the ground.

"Mama, mama look!" a young passing by girl called as her and her mother passed the alleyway. Longwei looked at her. She was pointing to a poster of Aang that was hanging on the wall of the building. There were hundreds of these posters everywhere now; clearly stating that Aang had won the war. "That's the Avatar." The child said happily, clinging to her mothers arm. Longwei scowled as they disappeared behind the building.

"You see," Azula said, stopping her pacing. "Weeks ago nobody but the Fire Nation was that happy. But now, ever since that little child defeated my father, it's everywhere." She crossed her arms and leaned all of her weight into one leg. Longwei looked at her.

"Happiness?" he questioned. She nodded.

"Yes happiness! Happiness and freedom. What do these people know? They're just Earth Kingdom scum; they don't deserve to feel happy and free." There was a pause. Azula just continued to stare violently out at the passer bys.

"If you don't know the next step of your plan, may I suggest something?" Longwei asked. Azula looked at him and smirked.

"I can assure you, that I indeed know the next step of my plan! But please, go ahead." Longwei was quiet for a minute, trying to ignore the slight sarcasm in her tone, before starting.

"I could teach you…" he mumbled quietly. Azula scrunched her eyebrows together.

"I beg your pardon?" she asked, confused. Longwei stood up and took a step closer to her.

"I could teach you how to blend your spirit with another. How to take an image that is not you own." He looked down at her, their eyes meeting. "I could teach you…how to Shadowbend." All Azula could do was stare at him, wondering if he was serious or not. But after a minute of silence she smiled.

"Well that would be interesting now wouldn't it?" She muttered under her breath. "How?"

"Shadowbenders have the ability to share their gift with others, if they chose. All we have to do…is an exchange." Azula's smile faded and she eyed him suspiciously.

"An exchange?" she asked. He nodded. "What kind of exchange would this be?"

"They only exchange that I know of that has been said to work every time, is blood." Azula raised an eyebrow.

"Blood…? That's it?" she asked as if it was nothing.

"That's it." Longwei took a step backwards, his expression blank. Azula thought about it for a minute.

"So, all I have to do is give you some of my blood and I will be able to Shadowbend?" she asked, making sure she understood what he was telling her. He nodded, she shrugged. "Okay then. How will we do this?" Longwei looked around the alleyway and spotted a small glass mirror. With one swift kick, he caused it to shatter and picked up one of the shards.

"Give me your hand!" he demanded, holding the glass loosely in his hand. Azula hesitated before extending her arm to him, and he grabbed her wrist, twisting it so that it was palm up. He then pressed the sharpest end of the glass into it and drug it along the whole length of her palm. She winced in pain as she watched the deep red blood ooze out from the scratch.

"What about you?" she asked went he was finished. He brought up his own hand and did the same with the glass, only the blood that immerged from the wound was not red, but jet black just like his eyes. When he was done, he tossed the glass to the ground and took her wrist again.

"Now…"he mumbled, bringing his bleeding hand towards hers until they met. Azula seemed to be in a trance, watching his every move. The feeling of their blood colliding together was not pleasant, but there was something about the whole situation that made it seem very interesting to her. She could feel the coldness of his own blood running through the veins of her arm, and she shivered. They stayed connected for a few moments until she could feel the cold everywhere in her body, then Longwei let go. "You are a Shadowbender." Azula looked down at her hand, which was now completely healed. They only thing that remained was a small faded scar. She raised her eyebrows, impressed.

"That seemed almost too simple." She said. Longwei smiled for the first time.

"It was." he added. Azula looked up at him and gave him a look.

"Well…I think this will work to my advantage quite nicely. The next step in my plan is now a definite go." Longwei raised an eyebrow, causing Azula to smile and turn back to the passer bys. "We're going to Ba Sing Se."

* * *

I stayed with Toph for three hours before she finally fell asleep. The first hour was all crying, but after that she seemed to calm down and we began to joke and talk about other things, things to take her mind away from her parents. When she fell asleep, the left the room quietly and headed downstairs to rejoin, only to find that he too was asleep on the family room chair. I shook my head at the sight of him and decided to go check on Appa.

It was a nice day outside, maybe a little too hot, but whenever there was a breeze it felt lovely. Appa was trying to lay under a small tree for shade, though his size would not let him fit.

"Are you hot Appa?" I asked walking over to him and placing my hand on his furry side. He moaned and turned his enormous head at me, his brown eyes half closed. "Poor thing," I mumbled, continuing to stoke his fur. Then I smiled. "I know what you need." I said, turning around and heading to the pond that was set in the yard.

When I got to it, I took a Waterbending stance and closed my eyes, concentrating on the water. I hadn't done any Waterbending since fighting Azula, and that was weeks ago. I felt a bit rusty, which I probably was, so this gave me a good excuse to brush up. I opened my eyes again and raised my hands, my right one hovering about a foot over my left one and watched as a large water sphere rose out of the water, following my movements. I twisted my body so that I was facing Appa again and both of my hands turned outwards. Appa roared happily as the sphere dropped down on him, making his fur extremely yet. I smiled.

"Not bad." I vaunted to myself, proud that my Waterbending wasn't a complete failure. "Feel better Appa?" He moaned again and shook his body, causing most of the water to splash back at me. I laughed and threw my hands up to shield my face. "Hey!" I giggled. "Not nice."

I stayed with him for a bit longer before going back inside and preparing myself some lunch; an ostrich-horse egg, some fruit, and rice. Not much but enough to tide me over until supper. While I was eating, Aang arrived home and joined me at the dinning room table.

"So how was it? Did Iroh know where Zuko was?" I asked, taking a bite of some watermelon, the juices spilling out of my mouth and all over my chin. I felt slightly embarrassed eating so messily in front of my boyfriend, but Aang didn't even seem to notice.

"He thinks he's in Dichio. He said he'd be back any day." he said, sitting himself up on the cupboard. I nodded.

"So do we just…sit back and relax until he gets here?" I asked, putting the melon rind on my plate. He nodded.

"I guess so. I was invited to a party tonight." he told me. I raised an eyebrow, and starting on my egg.

"By who, the Earth King?"

"No, a bunch of local girls." I was about to put the piece of egg I had in my mouth but stopped immediately, looking up at him.

"What did you say?" I noticed myself that my tone had turned a bit bitter when I asked this, and by the amused look on Aang's face, he did too.

"I asked them if I could bring you."

"You told them we're together! I thought we were keeping this a secret?"

"We can't keep it a secret forever Katara. People were already thinking something was up. It was just a group of girls." I pursed my lips before taking the egg into my mouth, my eyes glued to him.

"So I'm guessing they didn't want me coming right?" Aang shook his head.

"I don't think so. But it's okay because I'm not going either." I took another bite.

"You know, they're only interested in you because they know you're the Avatar" I said, crossing my arms. I don't know why, but lately I'd been very protective, even more then I used to be, and jealous when it came to Aang and other girls. It wasn't that I didn't trust him, because I did with all my heart. I just didn't want anybody else even thinking they could be with him. He was mine. Aang nodded.

"I know they are. I wouldn't want any of them anyway, I have the girl I want, and I don't want to change that anytime soon." We both smiled at each. Yes Aang was young, but he had ways of putting things that absolutely made my heart melt. I don't know if it was because he was raised by monks, which I highly doubt it was, or if it was because he just spoke his mind. Everything he would say would be truthfully from his heart, and I believe that it was. This only made me love him that much more. Which reminded me, I badly wanted to bring up the "taking our relationship to the next level" talk with him, but I didn't know how to word it. Telling your thirteen year old boyfriend that you want to have sex with his isn't exactly a piece of cake, even thinking about it made me uncomfortable and fidgety. I could feel the blush spread across my face as I thought about this and Aang eyed me worriedly.

"Are you okay?" he asked, noticing the redness in my cheeks. I bit my bottom lip.

"Oh yeah, fine. It's just the heat, it's really hot today."

"Well, why don't we go for a walk? I mean, Sokka and Toph are both asleep, they'll be fine here. We could be back before they even wake up." He suggested. I thought about it and nodded.

"Yeah, that would be nice." I agreed. We headed out for a walk around the neighbourhood.

It was nice; everyone was happy, glad that the war was finally over. There were a few scars left by the Fire Nation in the city that would probably take a while to heal, but other then that it was paradise, I couldn't wait to start my life there. As we passed a large house that was a few blocks away from our house, he walked by a group of girls that stared angrily at us. I guessed that they were probably the girls who had asked Aang to the party, since their glares were directed mostly at me.

"I did some Waterbending today." I told Aang as we walked over a small wooden bridge on our way back to the house. He smiled.

"How'd it go?"

"I got wet." He laughed, and for a split second, he seemed like a young child again. I smiled.

"I mean, I did it fine. But Appa splashed me." I said, correcting myself.

"Maybe I should brush up on some Airbending too. I'm probably way out of practice." I stopped walking and looked at him.

"That's not possible, you're the most powerful bender in the world, remember. You couldn't lose it that easily if you wanted too." He smiled back at me.

"Oh yeah…" I leaned into him, and our lips were just about to touch when we heard the call of our names.

"Katara! Aang!"

We both leaned apart again and looked behind, surprised to see who was standing there.


	9. Nine

**Another chapter up! This is what happens when you have too much time on your hands. lol. Anyway, guess who coming in the next chapter? Enjoy.**

* * *

Sokka who was still asleep on the family room chair snored loudly as Aang and I arrived back home, along with our visitor. He was laying sideways on it, his legs hanging off one side and his head and shoulders off the other. I walked over to him and crossed my arms.

"Sokka, wake up!" I demanded. He didn't, instead he just turned himself away from me and continued to sleep. Unfortunately for him the chair wasn't big enough for his move and he fell out of it onto the floor. He woke up immediately and sat up, stunned.

"What? What's happening?" he said loudly, still a bit dazed from sleep.

"I'll tell you what's happening!" From behind Aang and I, Suki marched past us and threw her hands on her hips, looking down at her boyfriend. Sokka starred at her for a minute before jumping to his feet, and hugging her tightly.

"Suki! What…I mean how…I mean…what are you doing here?" he asked, parting from her. She furrowed her eyebrows.

"What am _I _doing here? What are_ you _doing here?" she asked a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Well…I…its kind of a long story. Wait, how'd you know we were in Ba Sing Se?"

"Your father sent me a messenger hawk. I was planning on taking training off early and going to the Southern Water Tribe to surprise you. You father knew that I was, so to save me the time he told me you had gone to Gaoling. So I went to Gaoling, but it wasn't there anymore, so I figured that you probably went to Ba Sing Se." Sokka nodded then smiled.

"Really, you were going to come visit me early to surprise me?" he asked, sounding touched. Aang and I looked at each other, both of us feeling slightly awkward standing there unnoticed by the two lovers.

"Yes, I was!" Suki snapped, causing Sokka's smile to fade. "But really Sokka, you didn't even tell me you were going to Gaoling! Your _father_ had to send me a messenger hawk!" she hissed turning away from him. Sokka frowned.

"I didn't know you were coming for a visit, otherwise I would have." he told her, trying to make her look at him. "Suki, you know I love you, and you know that if I could have, I would have picked you up and taking you with us. But I couldn't, we were in a hurry." Suki finally looked back at him and sighed.

"I know…I'm sorry I guess…I don't know. I felt kind of left out that you left me behind." Sokka placed a hand on Suki's cheek and smiled warmly to her. I furrowed my eyebrows, slightly scared of what was coming next.

"Well you're here now, and that's all that matters." he said, pulling her closer to him so that their lips crushed together. Aang and I both let out some form of disgusted cry and turned away from them.

"Okay," I said, taking Aang's arm and starting towards the door. "Well, we're going to give you two some alone time. Sokka remember, you're making supper tonight."

The rest of the day went by fast. Sokka and Suki spent all of it together, as did I and Aang. Toph woke up about early evening just in time for supper, which we all ate together at the dinning room table. It felt like old times again, all of us together, laughing having fun. I liked it this way. Sokka had managed to somehow ruin most of our meal by burning everything he had cooked. Luckily Suki had made a salad side dish which was not. Sokka who was sitting across from me and beside Suki talked non-stop the whole time we were eating. Suki was sitting beside him, smiling and laughing at everything he said. Toph was sitting at the end of the table, smiling every so often but staying quiet for the most part. And Aang and I were sitting side by side doing the same as Suki, only my right hand had been resting on his thigh for almost the whole time.

"So then, okay listen to this," Sokka said getting rather excited at the story that we had all heard hundreds of times since the comet. "Toph breaks down the door and metal bends into this metal…creature, and takes down four Fire Nation soldiers in less then twenty seconds. It was amazing." He said, using his hands to tell the story a little too much. We all laughed.

"You know Sokka," I stared with a smile. "The last time you told us this story, it was less then fifteen seconds." He cast me a look.

"Yeah, yeah. Well it was one of the two. It was still really cool." We all laughed again and continued to listen to his stories. A couple minutes later, I found that I was no longer hungry, nor did I want to listen to the story anymore, so I gave Aang's thigh a tight squeeze and he looked at me. I looked back for a second before pushing myself away from the table. Sokka stopped talking and everyone looked at me.

"I'm going to my room, I think I forgot something." I said, excusing myself from the table. My eyes shifted to Aang once more before turned around and walking out of the room, heading for my own. Aang looked down for a minute before getting up also.

"I need to use the bathroom." he said quietly then dashed after me. Everyone sat there for a minute in silence. Toph chuckled to herself as she rested her feet up on the table.

"What was that about?" Suki asked, looking at Sokka. He shrugged.

"I dunno," he said, waving his hand as if he didn't care. "They've been acting weird for the last week or so. It's probably just Avatar and…girl stuff." Toph laughed again, only this time it was a little bit louder.

"Are you two really that stupid?" she asked. Sokka and Suki looked at her.

"Huh?" Sokka said confused. Suki rested her hands on her lap and looked at the Earthbending girl.

"It's obvious they have a thing with each other. I'm blind and I can even see that." Toph said. Suki gave a look that showed she understood what Toph was saying was true, and realising how blind she had been. Sokka on the other hand merely laughed.

"Are you crazy?" he asked, still laughing. "They don't have a thing with each other. I personally know that my sister only thinks of Aang as a little brother. And he only thinks of her as a friend. Nothing's going on between them." Toph smirked and stuck her index finger up one nostril of her nose, as if no one was there watching her.

"Uh huh…" she mumbled. "Just don't come crying to me when you're an uncle at sixteen." With that she removed her finger and flicked a small amount of nastiness onto the table, landing right in front of Suki and Sokka. They both looked down at it for a minute before looking at each other.

Upstairs Aang and I were already far into a steamy make out session on my bed. His lips were everywhere on me; my lips, my cheeks, my nose, my neck, my ears, my collarbone. I couldn't get close enough to him. That's when I got an idea. It was a bold one, and I didn't know if it would work, but I wanted to try it. I wanted to test the waters. My arms that had been draped around his neck, moved down to the hem of his tunic, and my fingers hooked inside of it. I waited to see if he was going to pull away but he didn't, he just continued to run his lips and tongue over my exposed skin. I shivered when he nibbled a spot on my neck slightly and continued with my experiment. I began to pull his tunic up very cautiously. To my dismay his own hand grabbed my wrist at once, stopping me and he pulled away, looking me in the eye. I looked back at him, feeling half embarrassed and have annoyed.

"What's the matter?" I asked breathlessly. His eyes shifted, and I could tell that he too was somewhat embarrassed.

"Nothing," he began. "I just…I think we should probably stay fully dressed if we're going to do this." Another bold move hit me and I reached my neck up to kiss him again.

"I don't…" I mumbled in-between kisses, trying to pull away from his grip on my wrist to continue removing his tunic. Unfortunately this time he pulled away completely from me, and sat up on my bed. I sat up too and frowned, appalled by my actions. "I'm sorry…" I muttered after a few seconds of silence. "I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay." he said, still not looking at me. "Well…I should probably go before Sokka gets suspicious…" With that he stood up and started towards my door. I furrowed my eyebrows.

"Aang…wait!" I called, jumping to my feet. He stopped at the door, his hand resting on the knob and looked back at me. We looked at each other for a long minute but I couldn't think of what to say. He smiled.

"It's okay Katara," he said, apologetically. "I just don't want you to get in trouble." Aang turned back to the door, opened it and left. I sat back down on my bed, almost in tears of ruining our moment together. The minute Aang left the room, and closed the door behind him he came in full contact with Sokka and the two stumbled a few steps back from each other. "Sokka?" Aang said when he got a good look at who it was. Sokka looked down at him before noticing where he had come from, and narrowed his eyes.

"I thought you said you were going to the bathroom?" he hissed questioningly. Aang felt himself blush as he racked his brain for an excuse.

"I did…but I was just…I wanted to…Katara asked me to come help her find something…she was looking for." Sokka didn't seem to buy this as his eyes continued to gaze angrily at the boy. "But she found it…so; I'm just going to go back downstairs." Aang tried to escape past Sokka, only to be grabbed by the shoulder and pushed back a few steps.

"Aang, I'm not mad at you…" he said in an unnaturally calm tone. "But I want you to tell me the truth. Do you and my sister…have…a thing with each other?" he asked. Aang looked at him for a minute, but before he could answer Katara came out of her room, her hair slightly messy and her lips a tad bit swollen. She looked at the two boys, as they looked back at her. Sokka noticed her appearance right away and frowned, tightening his grip on Aang's shoulder so much, Aang winced in pain.

"Sokka…?" Katara said looking down at the ground, trying to hide both the guilty expression on her face, and tone in her voice. "What a surprise…"

Sokka brought us both down stairs and demanded to know what was going on. Aang had told him that he had been in love with me since the first day we had met, and kissed me before the invasion. That's when I told him that I began to realize that I loved him as well, and we finally got together after the defeat of Ozai. Sokka had a hard time taking everything in, as I knew he would, but in the end he seemed…semi okay with it, though I knew that he was probably just going along with it because he knew I was happy.

"Alright," he agreed when we were finished. "I'll allow you two to be together…"

"That's so nice of you Sokka, thank you." I said sarcastically. He narrowed his eyes at me and tugged on some of my hair that was sticking out of place.

"But there are a few conditions that I expect you to follow!" Aang and I stayed quiet. "First off; just because I know about this now, doesn't mean you can…do stuff in front of me. No it really doesn't. I don't want to see anything; I don't want to know anything." Sokka looked right at Aang after saying this and pointed at him. "By the way this isn't giving you permission to try anything! You touch my sister in any way shape or form that I don't like and I promise I will kill you. Avatar or not." Aang flushed and nodded his head slowly in agreement. I on the other hand rolled my eyes. "Secondly; you're stubborn, I know that you know that. If this kid tries something, use that stubbornness. I don't want you doing anything you're not ready for. Once again, not giving permission." I snorted. Since when did Sokka call Aang, "this kid"?

"Yeah, okay Sokka. We got it." I said, sounding irritated, which I was. "Can we go now?" Sokka stayed quiet for a minute, staring at both of us.

"Yeah, I guess so." he said after a minute. I sighed in relief.

For the rest of the night, it seemed as though Aang was trying to avoid me. And I wasn't sure if it was because of what Sokka had said, or what I had tried. Whatever the reason it hurt. So, while he stayed in his room, I hung out with Toph in hers. We talked, and I told her what Sokka had said. She laughed, saying she knew we were together all along, which I believed, but she didn't seem to have a problem with it. Before I knew it, it was night again and we were all heading off to bed. Once again I couldn't get to sleep because I was stuck thinking about Aang. But unlike the last time, by the time I got to sleep, the sun was already coming up.

* * *

**Just a little fun fact about Longwei the Shadowbender. **

**Before I even knew what AVATAR was, my friend watched it all the time and she would tell me about it and draw pictures for me. So, she keeps drawing this creepy, creature thing that looks like a black version of Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas, who in almost every picture is kidnapping Katara, or doing something bad to her. I ask my friend who this creepy thing is, and she tells me that its the "bloodbender." Well...I watched the whole serious looking for this creepy "bloodbender" but I find nothing. Afterwards I tell her this and she laughs at me saying she made it up. I ask her, why would you make this a bloodbender, it looks more like a shadow. Thats when I started getting ideas about shadowbending. It wasn't until I had developed the charater and his story that I even named him Longwei. In the beginning, his name was just Shadowbender, then it was Shan Rha. But I remembered that there was already a Yon Rha in AVATAR, so I decided to change the name to Longwei which in Chinese means "Dragon Greatness." ahha, don't ask. :P**


	10. Ten

**Two chapters in one day, three chapters in one week. Not a bad start for the summer. Enjoy.**

* * *

"Sokka you didn't?" Suki asked Sokka the next morning after he told her about confronting Aang and I the previous night. He shrugged and raised an eyebrow.

"What? It wasn't like I gave them the talk or anything. I just basically told them to be carful. Besides, they won't last long." he said heading to the cupboards to look for food. Suki watched as he took down a bag of bean curd puffs, opened them and started shovelling them into his mouth. She shook her head at him. Toph walked into the room looking fully regenerated and back to her old self.

"Morning girls, what's up?" she teased, standing beside Suki. Suki giggled at this, but Sokka merely gave her a look.

"Nothing much, we were just talking." she said. Toph moaned as she stretched her arms over her head.

"So where's Sugar-Queen and Twinkle-toes? In their own rooms I hope." Suki smiled.

"Please don't get him started Toph," she said, casting a look over at Sokka who looked extremely unamused.

"He already checked their rooms three times each before Aang finally got up." Toph raised an eyebrow.

"So he's up? Where is he?" she asked, this time Sokka answered, putting the bag of food back in the cupboard.

"In the shower." He grumbled. Suki and Toph chuckled. It was clearly going to take Sokka a while to get used to the fact that his best friend and sister was now a couple, and as much as he hated it, he was going to have to suck it up for their sake.

Not soon after that Aang came in the room, his only source of clothing being his pants. Both Suki and Sokka looked at him, though for different reasons. Suki knew that he was young, so she found it very impressive that he could be so muscularly built. Sokka on the other hand was praying to the spirits that he would put a shirt on before Katara woke up.

"Morning guys," he said, lazily walking over to the sink and getting himself a glass of water.

"Morning." Suki and Toph said in unison. Sokka mumbled his good morning, and slunk off to sit down at the table. Aang looked after him while he sipped at his drink.

"Oh hey," Suki said, looking rather excited for a minute. "Iroh stopped by earlier while you were asleep and told Sokka and I that Zuko was going to be back today." she said. Aang smiled.

"Yeah? That's great." he said with a smile. "Did he say when today?" Suki's eyes looked to the side while she thought about it.

"Er…I think he said by lunch time. But I'm not sure." She turned to Sokka. "Sokka, he said by lunch time, right?" Sokka mumbled something again, never once taking his eyes off of Aang. Aang's face flushed and he looked away awkwardly.

"Well, I'm going to go feed Appa. I'll be back." he said, turning and heading towards the door. As he past, Sokka muttered something that sounded a lot like "maybe you should put on a shirt too" under his breath.

Toph giggled at this and Suki shook her head. "Sokka…"

* * *

I woke up to the sound of Appa roaring happily outside my window. I was still a bit tired but when I heard Aang's laugh I decided to get up. So I lifted myself off the bed and walked out onto my balcony. Outside, Aang was running around Appa, shirtless I might add, laughing hysterically as Appa repeatedly turned around in a circle, trying to catching him. I laughed too myself at the sight and Aang heard me. He stopped laughing and running and looked up at me. But because he had stopped, Appa collided with him and laid his enormous head down on him, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Appa!" he called trying to push the creatures head off. I laughed again. "Appa, get off, buddy…" Appa raised his head and moseyed away from him. Aang got up, brushed himself off, and jumped about twenty feet into the air, landing on my balcony's railing. I stepped backward and smiled.

"See, you still got it." I said. He smiled too and sat down, the muscles on his chest tightening as he did so. I looked down at them for a minute before looking back at his face. "Are you still mad at me?" I asked cautiously. He raised an eyebrow.

"No. I was never mad at you." he told me honestly.

"Then why'd you leave?" I demanded, getting a little rude. He looked down and his cheeks turned pink.

"I was just…nervous. I really didn't want you to get in trouble. I was scared that Sokka would walk in and find out, which he found out anyway, but still." I nodded but was still a little unsure.

"I was only taking your shirt off." I said, taking a step closer to him. "It's not that big of a deal, kissing without shirts on." He looked at me and clutched onto the railing as I rested my lips on his. "See." I said, pulling away ever so slightly. I heisted and waited for him to kiss me this time. I wasn't sure if he was going to, but after a few seconds of letting what I was saying sink in he did, and slid off of the railing so that he was standing up. I molded myself closer to him, so that I was pressed against his hard chest and stomach, wrapping my arms around his neck. But just as luck would have it, a familiar shriek cried out from behind Aang and we both spun around quickly to look. Aang smiled.

"Momo,"

The small lemur-bat flew over to us out of nowhere and landed on Aang's shoulder, licking his cheek repeatedly. Aang chuckled as he stroked the creature.

"What are you doing here?" he asked happily. Momo gurgled something before turning to me and licking my cheek as well. I laughed.

"It's good to see you too, Momo." Aang looked over the balcony, trying to see down the road, the way the house was angled however wouldn't allow him to see.

"Zuko must be here already," he announced, turning towards the doorway. "Let's go greet him." I nodded, but then looked down at myself. I was still in thin, blue silk nightgown, my hair was a mess and I probably had the worst morning breath. I couldn't believe that Aang actually put up with kissing me, I was a wreck.

"I have to get ready first." I said, looking back at him. He looked my over.

"You look beautiful." he told me. I smiled.

"Thank you, Aang, but really, I have to get ready. You go on." He nodded and rushed off, Momo still on his shoulder.

Aang ran downstairs, just in time to hear the knock on the front door. Sure enough, when he opened it Zuko was standing there, his appearance no different from the last time Aang had seen him. He still had his shaggy black hair that covered his forehead, and he was still wearing the green Earth Kingdom robe he had bought for times when he wanted a break from being the "Fire Lord". And of course, he still had the same dark scar across his left eye, marking him from when he spoke out against his father, four years earlier. The moment he saw Aang he smiled, and Momo jumped from Aang's shoulder to his.

"Aang," he said, taking the younger boy into a quick hug. Aang smiled as they pulled away from each other.

"Zuko, it's good to see you again. I see you've been taking good care of Momo." he said, looking from Zuko to the lemur on his shoulder. Zuko reached his hand to pet Momo's side, causing him to screech contentedly and nuzzle into his cheek.

"Yeah, he's been one good little side kick." Zuko stopped smiling and looked more serious. "Can I come in?" Aang stepped aside, allowing him to make his way in.

"Of course."

Zuko walked in, closing the door behind him. Sokka, Toph and Suki all came into the room when they heard the door close.

"Zuko!" Sokka said before holding out his hand to the Firebender. But before he could accept it, Sokka pulled it away again and gave a horrified expression. "Wait…do I call you Fire Lord Zuko now? Can I even shake your hand? You're royalty." Zuko smirked.

"You can still just call me Zuko, Sokka. And you can shake my hand." Sokka smiled again and shook his hand.

"Hi Zuko," Suki said, bowing her head at him. He bowed back just in time to be roughly punched in the arm by Toph. He jumped in confusion before realising why she had done it, remembering that it was indeed her way of "showing affection".

"Good to have you back Hot-Shot." she chimed happily. Zuko smiled.

"It's good to be back."

Just then, the sound of feet thudding down the stairs could be heard and I dashed over to them.

"Zuko!" I called, flinging myself at him and grasping him in a hug. Zuko hugged back, resting his hands a little too far down my back for Aang's liking and he made a face. Suki caught this and laughed.

"Be careful where you put your hands Zuko, Katara's Aang's girl now." she said. Zuko removed his hands so quickly it looked as though he had just touched something extremely hot. I let go of him and along with the others, except for Sokka, laughed.

"So did you find out anything about your mom's whereabouts?" Aang asked Zuko a little later when we were all sitting down in one of the family rooms. Zuko shook his head.

"Not really, but I have a feeling I'm close. I met a woman in a small Earth Kingdom tavern who told me she had met a Fire Nation outcast many years ago who lived in a town called Shengshu. It's on the western side of the Si Wong Desert, not too far away from Dichio, the town where I was staying previously. I would have gone there right away, but I had told Uncle that I was coming home. Which reminds me, why are you all here?"

We all looked at each other and looked down; it was Sokka who spoke first. "We're here because we have a problem." he said. Zuko frowned and scrunched his eyebrows together.

"Why, what happened?" he asked. Nobody said anything, bringing up the subject when Toph was right there and was just getting over it was a bit uncomfortable for all of us. But it was Toph who finally answered.

"My city was burned down by two rogue Firebenders. My parents where killed too." she said, saying the last part very quietly. Zuko narrowed his eyes.

"Two Firebenders did it?" he asked, soundly very angry. Everyone nodded, and it went silent. From outside you could perfectly hear Appa and Momo howling and roaring with happiness as they chased each other around the yard. It was the first time they had been reunited in weeks and they were both happy to see each other again. Unfortunately the atmosphere inside was not as bright as everyone sat there thinking about what next to say.

"Do you have any idea who it is?" Zuko finally asked Aang, keeping his voice quiet as if he didn't want anybody else to hear. Aang shook his head.

"Actually, we were kind of hoping you would." Zuko shook his head.

"What are we going to too about this? We can't just let people get away with burning down an entire city, and killing innocent lives. This war is over." he yelled, slamming his fist down on the table. Aang looked down.

"We'll think of something to do together. All of us."

* * *

It was mid afternoon when the train arrived at the Ba Sing Se inner wall station. Everyone that was on it piled off in a hurry, pushing past each other trying to be the first ones off. When it had cleared, two last people cleared themselves from inside the train; Longwei, the dusty haired Earthbender, and a petit Earth Kingdom woman. They both walked to the balcony of the station and looked over the city.

"It's a big city…" Longwei said quietly, looking over all of the rooftops. The woman looked over them as well, her topaz eyes scanning for any sign of what she was looking for.

"Don't worry," she began calmly. "We'll find them." she said, her mouth twisting into large, demonic smile.


	11. Eleven

**I had a bit of another writers block, but this chapter turned out alright. I'm pretty satisfied with the poem in it, even though I suck at writing poems so please feel free to tell me it sucks. lol. Enjoy****

* * *

The next day, Suki and I decided to go to the store to buy some supplies to restock the kitchen cupboards while the boys talked about our next step. And even though she didn't really want too, we forced Toph to tag along with us. Aang, Zuko and Sokka all sat at the dinning room table, maps, charts and scrolls of the Earth Kingdom all set up in front of them. Zuko pulled one of the maps closer to him and rolled it open; pressing his finger on it.

"This," he said to Aang and Sokka who were on either side of him gawking down at the map. "Is where we are. Ba Sing Se." He dragged his finger down the parchment a couple of inches and stopped again. "And this is Shengshu. It would take about a day and a half's travel to get there." Sokka raised an eyebrow and rested his arm on the back of Zuko's chair.

"Wait, why are we going to Shengshu again?" he asked, starring at the back of Zuko's head. Aang ran his tongue over his bottom lip and looked at him.

"I agreed that we would go there to ask about Zuko's mother before we look for who burned down Gaoling." he said.

"But, isn't it kind of…I dunno…more important for us to find dangerous killers, not someone's mother. No offence." Sokka added the last part quickly as Zuko turned his head and casted him a look.

"It would only take a day and a half!" Zuko shot at him. "These Firebenders aren't doing anything right now. I don't think a day and a half would affect anything."

"Besides," Aang continued for him. "We might find out more about the people who did it if we poke around in Fire Nation Colonies. You never know." Sokka hesitated for a minute before nodding in agreement.

When the girls and I got back to the house, the Zuko and Sokka told us that they were heading out to pick up things that they conveniently forgot to tell us to pick up, while Aang meditated in his room. It was a cold, misty day outside and while they were walking from our house to the shop it started to rain.

"Well, isn't that just out luck?" Sokka complained as he put a hand over his head, as if it would cover himself from the rain. "What are we getting anyway?" Zuko started to walk faster, and turned sharply down a street that was full of shifty looking people. Sokka followed him, though he was a bit confused as of why he was going this way. "Uh, Zuko…the stores down that road." he said, looking behind him.

"We're not going to the store…" Zuko mumbled, his eyes shifting around to the people who were sitting on the sides of the road. Mostly all of them were quiet, and watching as the two boys rushed past them. Sokka looked at them too and hurried closer to Zuko.

"Then, where are we going?" he asked, a hinge of fear in his tone. Zuko turned once again to a small house and stopped looking up at the sign.

"We're going here." Sokka looked up at the sign which was half falling off from hanging above the door. He raised his eyebrows.

"A book store?" he asked, looking at the words of the sign; the store was called _"Heian de Zhishi", _dark knowledge. Zuko took a breath and pushed open the door, walking inside, Sokka hesitated before following. Inside the store was cramped full of bookshelves. It was dark, except for one dim ceiling lamp, and it smelled terribly of old books and dust. There was a small counter at the back of the room, a tiny elderly lady was seated at it, her appearance was lifeless, and it looked as if she was going to die at any moment. Lying on the desk in front of her was a small furless cat, its eyes closed as she stroked its wrinkled and dry looking skin. Sokka made a face when he saw it and shivered.

"Excuse me," Zuko called as they walked over to the counter. The woman looked up, as did the cat, its eyes brown with a small sliver of black in the middle of them. Sokka continued to look down at it, fascinated with its appearance. "Do you have any maps in your store?" he asked quietly. The woman didn't say anything, she just kept staring. But she nodded and got up from her chair.

"What kind of maps are you looking for?" she asked quietly, her voice no more enthusiastic then her visage.

"A map of Shengshu. I've been to almost every mapping store in Ba Sing Se, but no one seems to carry it." Zuko followed her to a curtained room on the left side of her desk, and they both disappeared into it. Sokka stood on his heels, looking around the store. It was so ghost like, that it gave him the creeps just standing there. He looked back at the cat, which was looking back up at him.

"Hi kitty…" he said. The cat blinked, though instead of its eye lids closing up and down, they closed side to side, almost like a lizard. Then, it got up, jumped down from the desk and casually walked behind a bookshelf. Sokka shook his head, trying to shake the creepy image of the cats blink out of his mind.

Minutes went by and neither Zuko nor the old woman returned from behind the curtain. Sokka was beginning to get tired of waiting and decided to look around at the books, so he headed over to a shelf.

"The Boiling Rock Prison- True Stories of the Lives from Inside the Walls." he read one of the books titles, a quick memory of being inside the Boiling Rock Prison himself coming back to him. He moved on to the next one. "The 600-Day Siege of Ba Sing Se- Lives Lost." he read the next one. "Fire Nation Victory over the Air Nomads. These are all Fire Nation books." Sokka backed up from the bookshelf and looked around to see if he was in the Fire Nation section of the shop, but there were no signs anywhere.

Just then a loud bang rang through the store, causing Sokka to jump. It had come from the aisle beside him. "Hello?" he asked, in a shaky voice, no answer. So slowly and carefully he began over towards the spot the noise had come from. When he turned the corner to look down aisle, the cat was sitting on the floor, licking its paw as if nothing had happened. There was a large book lying in front of it, it had clearly just fallen from its place on the shelf. Sokka eased up and walked over to it. "Thanks for scaring me." he said to the cat, bending over and picking up the book. But just as he was about to put it back on the shelf, he stopped himself and looked at it. It was a large thick book that looked as if it was at least two hundred years old. The skin was black and beginning to peel and the pages were yellow from aging. A large silver chain held it closed and on the front was a lock. His eyes shifted over the words of the book. "The Book of Shadows…"he whispered, reading it. Sokka pulled at the lock to try to open it, but it was no good. "Come on…" he mumbled pulling with all his might. "Open!"

The sound of footsteps re-entering the room caused him to stop trying immediately. "Sokka?" Zuko called from the counter, looking for his friend. Sokka rushed out of the aisle and back over to him, clutching the book in his hands.

"Hey Zuko, find what you were looking for?" he asked. Zuko motioned his head down to the desk were an old map lay. The woman went behind the counter and told Zuko the price. He dug into his pocket and pulled out the money, giving it to her.

"What's that?" he asked, looking at the book in Sokka's arms. Sokka looked down at it.

"Oh, uh…just a book I found." he said before looking at the woman. "How much is this?" She looked at the book for a minute before answering.

"Eighty gold pieces." she told him. Sokka put his hand into his pocket and pulled out the money he had; four copper pieces and two silver. The woman sneered as Sokka looked down in disappointment, putting the money back in his pocket. Zuko hesitated before taking out more money and put it on the table.

"Here," he said, scooping the map up from the table. "Keep the change." The woman looked down at the money in shook.

"One hundred gold pieces…" she murmured under her breath. Sokka and Zuko headed for the door with their buys.

"Thanks a lot Zuko, I'll pay you back." Sokka said happily when they got outside. Zuko shook his head.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "Now let's hurry before this rain gets any worse." The two boys began to rush through the street, unfortunately Sokka was too busy looking at his book to notice the large man who was coming the opposite way and they collided. Sokka grunted as he stumbled back a few steps and looked up at the man.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" Zuko yelled at the man, enraged.

"I am so sorry," The three of them looked around to see a small woman walk out from behind the man, an apologetic smile on her face. "My husband has spacing out all day. Isn't that right sweety?" she said, laying her hand on the man's chest, and nuzzling close to him. His black eyes looked down at her for a minute before he slowly nodded.

"Mm," was all he said.

"No problem, there's no harm done." Sokka said with a smile looking himself over.

"Come on Sokka…"Zuko said, eyeing the man and woman suspiciously as he started to walk. Sokka nodded and they continued on their way. The woman looked back at them and watched as they turned down another street.

When they got home, they were both drenched from the rain. "Finally you two are back." Suki said, her and Toph meeting them at the door. "Sokka what did you buy?" Sokka looked down at the book.

"Oh, this? Just a book. I thought it looked cool." he said truthfully, showing it to his girlfriend. She looked down at it.

"The Book of Shadows…hmm…sounds kind of familiar." she said, taking into her own hands for a better look. "You need a key for it. Where is it?" Sokka shrugged his shoulders and sighed.

"It didn't come with it." he mumbled.

"So you bought a book, that needs a key, but you don't have the key?" Toph said, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, pretty much." She shook her head.

"Sokka, Sokka, Sokka…you never seize to amaze me." With that, she pushed up her sleeve and took off the small meteor bracelet Sokka had given her when they were living in the Fire Nation. She closed her hand around it, and it formed into a small key, then she held it out to Suki. "Here." Sokka smiled and clasped his hands together excitedly.

"Toph, did I ever mention you're the best?" he asked, watching as Suki stuck the key into the small keyhole. A slight pink blush spread over Toph's face and she looked down, not answer his question. A loud click came from the book and the lock popped open, the chains that held it closed fell from it and landed on the floor. Suki gave the key back to Toph and Sokka grabbed his book. He opened it and right away began scanning through.

"Well, what does it say?" Zuko asked, trying to see over Sokka's shoulder. The more Sokka looked through, the more his eyebrows dipped down. Finally he closed the book and huffed.

"Nothing…"he said sadly. "There's no writing in it…"

"Let me see," Suki said taking it from him and opening it. Sure enough all of the books pages were blank. Not one bit of writing on them.

"I was so sure it was going to be something cool." Sokka said with a scowl. "I mean, why would be it chained up if there was nothing in it?" Suki stopped at one of the last pages of the book and raised an eyebrow.

"I found something…"she said quietly looking at the text. Both Sokka and Zuko pushed past one another to try to see it as well.

_From dusk till dawn the shadows prey, conduct a mortal sin. Until the morning comes at last, and brings with it a spin. The star shines down, conquests once more, in victory it commends. Until the moon returns anew, history repeats again._

The text was small, and it was in the middle of the page, but it was clearly an old poem. Suki read it aloud so that Toph could hear it. "Well…that's kind of weird." Toph said when she was finished.

"I think it sounds creepy…" Suki said, giving the book back to Sokka.

"It's just a poem." Zuko said, giving the book a weird sideways glance. Toph laughed.

"You know, it kind of reminds me of this story the grown ups would tell us kids in Gaoling." she began. "About these people who lived underground and came up sometimes to steal your soul." Everyone looked at her and was quiet until Suki smiled.

"I remember that story!" she said excitedly. Sokka raised an eyebrow.

"You didn't grow up in Gaoling…did you?" he asked. She shook her head.

"No, but it wasn't just a Gaoling myth, it was an Earth Kingdom legend. The people were called Shadowbenders, and they lived in the Shadow Mines." she said, seeming very happy to be telling the story to them. "They would come out whenever they got hungry for someone's shadow. By stealing someone's shadow they could morph into the person's image, copying their identity. When this would happen, the real person would black out until their shadow was returned, and by then their memory of the whole thing would be gone." Sokka gulped, looking terrified but shook it off.

"That's just a story…" he said bravely. Suki nodded.

"Well yeah, obviously. It was just wives tale parents would tell their kids so they wouldn't run off too far or stay out too late."

"How does the poem remind you it?" Zuko asked turning to Toph. She shrugged.

"I dunno, I mean…it says something about shadows." she said, no longer interested in the conversation. Sokka looked down at the book.

"Well…I still wish there was more to this thing then just one lousy poem." he sighed. Suki put her arm around his shoulder.

"Maybe you can write your own story in there." she said, kissing him lightly. He snickered.

"Now that would be a book worth one hundred gold pieces."


	12. Twelve

**Another chapter up. This one is quite long, I am pleased with it. Enjoy :)**

* * *

Later that night, when everyone was heading to their own rooms, Zuko stayed downstairs in the dinning room looking over his map of Shengshu. It was quiet large for a suburban village, but not big enough to be a challenge to find his mother, he would probably be there for a few days anyway, so hr would have time to look. Zuko sighed and sat back in his chair, closing his eyes and resting them for a minute. He had been traveling for three weeks straight, walking every day to a new destination, never once taking a day off. He was tired, and wanted desperately to go back home and relax with his girlfriend Mai. But at the same time, he wanted to find his mother, and now he had to help stop the two rogue Firebenders. It was his duty, being the Fire Lord and all, but it was hard.

Upstairs, Sokka was lying on Suki's bed, flipping through his book while she stood in front of him, pulling her night shirt down over her head. "Are you ever going to put that thing down for two minutes?" she asked, looking back at him when her shirt was fully on. "No matter how much you look, you're not going to find anything. It's empty." Sokka ignored her and kept turning the pages. He stopped on the poem and read it.

"Do you think this poem, has some sort of meaning to it?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know Sokka." she said, quickly lighting a candle and heading over to the light switch. "Now put the book away, it's late." With that she flicked the switch off so that the only source of light in the room was the candles dim flame. Sokka narrowed his eyes and watched as she started over to him.

"Hey!" he mumbled. She laughed, put the candle down on the bedside table and sat down beside him, nuzzling close to him.

"You know, we haven't been like this for almost a week…" she said quietly. He smiled and draped an arm around her.

"Mm, that's way too long…" he replied before stretching his neck down to kiss her. When he pulled away from her again, his peripheral vision locked onto the book that was lying in his lap and he right away looked down at it, removing his arm from around his girlfriend. Suki looked taken a back for a minute as she looked at him, but then looked down at the book as well and her eyes widened. The dim light of the candle against the dark room was casting shadows over the blank pages of the book, but they were no longer blank anymore. They now were filled with words, though the letters were not made of ink, but were instead made of shadows. Sokka raised his hand, blocking the light of the candle and the words disappeared, then he put it back down. "No way…" he whispers astonished. Suki shook her head at what she was seeing, and watched as Sokka once again flipped through the book, making sure that all of the pages were full, which they were.

"The words are shadows." she told him as if he didn't know. He nodded then smiled.

"See, I knew this book was cool!" he chimed happily before closing it. "I just had to find out how to use it." Suki smiled back at him.

"Well…you were right. It's a very cool book." she said, resting her head on his chest and her arm over his stomach. "I think we should celebrate on you finding out how to read it." she mumbled suggestively. Sokka beamed down at her for a minute before nodding in agreement.

"That sounds pretty good to me." he said, so Suki sat back up, leaned over to the candle and with one quick breath she blew it out. The room went dark.

After everyone awoke, got ready, packed, and ate a quick breakfast, we were on Appa and getting ready to head to Shengshu. "So which way do we go, Zuko?" Aang asked, sitting down on Appa's head and taking the reigns in his hands. Zuko, who was sitting directly behind him on the saddle, looked down at his map.

"Two thousand miles, South-west from here." he said, turning his head. Aang nodded.

"Right. Is everyone ready?" Everyone mumbled their replies. I took a seat beside Zuko and looked around. On the other side of the saddle, Sokka was sitting in-between Suki and Toph. Suki was resting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes from tiredness, and Toph was stroking Momo who was curled up on her lap.

"You're taking the book?" I asked, noticing the large book in my brother's hands. He nodded at me and smiled.

"Yeah, I don't want anyone breaking in to that house and taking it."

"It's an empty book Sokka; I don't think anyone would take it."

"Hey! It's not empty, ask Suki. I found out how to read it last night." I raised an eyebrow and waited for him to continue the story of how he found out how to read it, but he didn't so I just looked out at the city. Aang raised his hands, bringing the reigns with him and brought them back down quickly.

"Appa, yip yip!" he commanded and Appa pushed off the ground raising himself and us into the air.

Down below in one of the city streets. Azula and Longwei watched as the great flying bison flew through the sky, leaving the city behind him. Azula, still in the form of the Earth Kingdom woman turned to her ally. "You're sure they were going to Shengshu?" she asked him seriously. He nodded.

"Yes, the woman from the shop told me that the boy with the scar wanted a map of Shengshu because he had business there." She nodded and began to walk.

"That boy with the scar…is my brother." she revealed as he rushed to pace himself beside her. He looked at her, an eyebrow raised.

"Really? He was your brother? Hmm, you two look nothing alike." Azula chuckled at this.

"Well it is true that I not only got the brains, talent and social abilities in the family, but I also received the looks. My father knew that better then anybody. He was the only one other then me who really saw Zuko for who he is…" she trailed off as a surprisingly grief-stricken expression washed over her face.

"When your Fire Lord again…will you…set your father free?" Longwei asked after a minute. Azula smiled, looked at him and shook her head.

"No, I don't think I will. I miss him yes. But he is no use to me anymore. The Avatar took away his bending abilities, so he can no longer Firebend. It's tragic really." Longwei snorted.

"He took away his bending?"

"Yes…he is very powerful, but he's only a child. We must destroy him and my brother so that there will be nothing in our way to victory." Azula smiled as the couple made their way to the train station, ready to leave the city.

* * *

Just as Zuko had told us it took us a day and a half to reach Shengshu. When we got there Aang landed Appa just outside of the town in a small wooded area. "Sokka, I really think you should leave that book here." I told my brother as we all dismounted from the bison. Sokka sighed but instead of arguing he gently put the book down beside Momo.

"Momo, watch my book please!" he ordered to the lemur. Momo looked up at him, his green eyes gleaming.

We all walked into the town together, there were people everywhere. The town was full of tiny shops, merchants, travelers. I walked closer to Aang, pushing myself lightly into him as I looked around. "There's so many people here…" I mumbled. He nodded.

"Yeah," Suki added. "I don't know why, but for some reason I thought this town was going to be a little bit more…desolate." All of a sudden came up in front of us, stopping us in our tracks and pointed at Toph.

"You there!" he cried joyfully. Toph looked around, slightly confused at his enthusiastic tone. "You look like a fine young lady with a great taste in jewelry." He pulled out a cheap looking bracelet from his pocket and waved it in front of her face. Toph's eyebrows furrowed and she crossed her arms.

"I can't tell if you're trying to be funny…or you're just stupid!" she hissed before pointing at her eyes. It took the man a few seconds to figure out what she was implying, but then his face flushed and he looked away embarrassed.

"Oh…I…well…" His attention then turned on me and he smiled. "You look like a fine young lady with a great taste in jewelry!" he insisted. Aang put his arm around my waist, pulling me closer, and narrowed his eyes ever so slightly.

"She's not interested…" he said sternly. Zuko shook his head and started walking again.

"Lets just go!" he called to us and we followed, the merchant moving to the next group of travelers. But he wasn't the only one who tried to sell something to us as we made out way down the packed road. An old dark skinned woman tried to sell croco-dog to Suki, a shifty looking man tried to cell some sort of toxic looking liquid to Zuko, and a creepy pair of twins tried to convince Aang to get another tattoo. It was insane. As we neared the end of the street however, the crowd seemed to be dying down, and the shopkeepers weren't so intense about selling their items. As we walked by them, we could actually admire items. In fact, we actually stopped at the last store of the street and went inside, though it was probably only because Zuko wanted to ask someone if they knew about his mother.

It was an Foreign Item shop, full of lost artifacts from all of the four nations. The shop was owned by a small man in his late forties and his daughter, a girl who looked no older then Zuko himself. They both bowed to us when we entered. "Greetings travelers." the man said with a smile. "How may I help you?" Zuko walked over to him.

"I am Fire Lord Zuko; I have come here in search of a woman named Ursa. Do you know of her?" he asked. The man looked at him for a minute before shaking his head.

"I'm sorry, but…my daughter and I have only lived here for a few weeks. We moved here after the war. We do not know everyone in the town." he said. "But you know, there is a man who lives just beyond the Dadi Shrine who has lived here for many years."

"Which way to the Dadi Shrine?" Zuko questioned. As they talked, the rest of us browsed around the shop, the girl following us everywhere we went. Aang and I stayed together most of the time. We were busy looking at some old relics from the Air Nomads.

"How did you get these?" Aang asked the girl, turning to face her. She looked down at them, her black hair moving loosely as she turned her head.

"Travelers have brought them to us from their adventures around the four nations. Unfortunately our Air Nomad section is very small, due to the fact that because it is an extinct race, we are not allowed to touch everything in order to keep it a natural environment." Aang's eyebrows dipped down when she said this, and she immediately looked horrified. "I am so, so sorry Avatar Aang." she said, bowing to him. "I did not mean any disrespect. I forgot who I was talking too…" Aang shook his head and forced a smile.

"It's okay. I know you didn't mean anything. I was the one that asked the question anyway." he reassured her. She looked back up at him. Suddenly there was a loud surprised shriek from across the room, and we looked over in the direction of Suki, Sokka and Toph. They were standing in the Water Tribe section of the store, Sokka jumping up and down excitedly as Suki looked down at an item on the shelf. We walked over to them to see what the fuss was about.

"Look!" Sokka said, grabbing mine and Aang's shoulders and pushing us towards the shelf. Sitting on it were dozens of Water Tribe items; folded parka's, beads for hair, pots, and nets. But the item Sokka was excited about was clearly the silver and value boomerang that was lying in the middle of everything. The shop girl smiled.

"This item is new. It was brought in by a traveler yesterday morning. It was said to be the weapon of a brave Water Tribe warrior, who perished while fighting Firebenders on the west cost of the Earth Kingdom." she told us. Sokka shook his head.

"Nope!" he chimed. "He didn't perish. He's very much alive at this moment actually. Oh man, I can't believe my luck." He bent down closer to the boomerang and smiled widely at it. "You really do always come back." he mumbled to it, then he stood up at looked at the girl. "How much is it?" he asked. She frowned.

"I am sorry, but it is not for sale. We already have a buyer for this item." Sokka's face fell and looked heart-broken at the girl.

"What?" he asked as if he couldn't believe what she was saying. "But…this is…mine…" I frowned.

"Sokka, it's just a boomerang. We can get you another one." I muttered. He gave me a look.

"Katara, how can you say that? It was clearly fate that I found this thing again, I'm meant to have it. Besides, this is important to me. How would you feel if you lost mom's necklace?"

"I did lose mom's necklace, remember? Aang got it back for me."

"Right…well…" Sokka looked down at Aang and pouted. "Aang, get my boomerang back for me?" he pleaded. Aang signed.

"Alright." he agreed. "Can I out buy this boomerang for my friend? It's important to him." The girl shook her head once more.

"I am sorry, but that is not how our store works. Avatar or not, I can not sell this to you." she said. Sokka hung his head.

"I can't believe my luck…"he cried quietly while Suki rubbed his back. Zuko walked over to us.

"What are we waiting for?" he asked. "Let's go." We the store then, heading for the Dadi Shrine. It was two blocks away, up a long path through the woods, no longer in the town really. When we past the shrine, the house was literally right beside it, and luckily the old man who the shopkeeper had told Zuko about was trimming a hedge in his front lawn. He looked up as we approached and his eyes widened.

"The Fire Lord…and the Avatar?" he gasped, dropping to his knees and bowing. "It is an honor to be in your presence." Zuko held up his hand.

"Please sir, do you know of a woman in your town named Ursa?" he asked hopefully. The man looked up.

"Ursa?" he repeated, sitting up fully now. "I'm sorry; I don't know anyone by that name around here."

"What about a Fire Nation outcast? Do you have any of those around here?" he asked. The man shook his head.

"I'm sorry, no." Zuko nodded sadly and backed up.

"Thank you…" he said quietly. Aang put a hand on his shoulder and he looked down at him.

"We'll find her Zuko…" he said. We all started to walk again, continuing down the path, just for a walk.

"We came all this way for nothing." Zuko mumbled to himself. I frowned and looked at him.

"Zuko, we can ask someone else. That guy was just one man." Sokka nodded.

"Yeah I mean, did you see that guy? He probably had dementia or someth-WAAAAH!" There was a thud and we all looked around to see Sokka, face down on the ground.

"Sokka, are you okay?" Suki asked with a slight giggle. Sokka jumped up quickly and brushed himself off.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he said before bending over and picking up a small steal chain that was lying across the path. "Who would leave a stupid chain in the middle of the pathway though?" Toph suddenly through up her arm, putting her hand in Sokka's face, silencing him.

"Shhhhhh…" she shushed him. We stayed quiet, listening for the sound that Toph could only hear. She tilted her head to the side before quickly raising her left arm straight into the air, her palm flat to the sky. She was clearly pulling some sort of Earthbending move. In the woods beside us, there was another loud thud and a loud grunt. We walked over to the edge of the woods and peered in. Sitting on the ground was a boy who looked as if he was Aang's age. His black hair was quite bushy and scruffy looking, and his skin tone was olive. He was wearing a red shirt, with a black vest over it and black pants. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"What do you think you were doing, leaving a chain in the middle of the path? My brother could have been seriously hurt!" I shouted at him. He turned around to face us, then without warning jumped up in front of Sokka. Sokka stumbled back a step.

"Sorry about that, dude!" the boy said quickly, his words slightly rushed together. "I couldn't think of another suitable way to stop you." His dark eyes, almost the shade of a very dark red, shifted from side to side before he bent over and picked up the chain, shoving it into a small pack he had. Everyone continued to look at him.

"And you wanted to stop us…why" Suki asked rudely. The boy leaned extremely close to her and pressed his index finger to his lips.

"Shhhhhh…" Suki blinked at him. Sokka narrowed his eyes and pushed the boy away.

"Hey, anybody teach you about personal space, kid?" he snapped. The boy smiled, two small dimples showing up on his cheeks.

"Sorry ponytail, but you can never tell who's listening these days. I know the wars supposed to be over but I…" he trailed off as his gaze stopped on Toph, and his expression suddenly turned very dazed. Then he walked up to her smiling. "Well…hey there." he mumbled, deepening his voice. Toph snorted before bringing her fist in direct contact with his jaw and he fell backwards to the ground. "Whao, powerful. Nice." he said with a wink, while wokring his jaw. Aang frowned.

"You still never told us why you wanted us to stop…" he said. The boy stood up.

"Right. Well, I overheard you," he pointed at Zuko. "Asking Old Man Cheng about a Fire Nation outcast." Zuko looked at him, hopeful once more.

"You know of someone in the town named Ursa?" he asked. The boy shrugged.

"Not really, but I know someone who does." Zuko took a step closer to him.

"Where can I find this person?" he demanded. The boy pointed down the path ahead of us.

"There's a joint up the road from here." he said. "It's at the very end, right before a big lake. Hard to miss it." Zuko started rushing down the path immediately, Sokka, Toph, Suki and I followed him. Aang bowed at the boy.

"Thank you." The boy leaned his head to the side, showing off a small tattoo on the crook of his neck.

"Hey no problem." he chimed. "Well, I got to get home. Good luck." With that, he darted off into the woods, leaving Aang looking after him a bit confused. Then, he rushed after us.


	13. Thirteen

**Chapter 13 up. Ahha, oh man, finally moving along. I would just like to say that the character Tadanobu is NOT mine, he belongs to Another Dead Hero who requested I added him in my story. Yes folks, I do take requests for characters, if I can. So most of Tadanobu's diolog will be writin by ADH. lol, anyway, I'm going away for ten days on Friday so this MIGHT be one of my last chapters until then. Might not be. Don't forget to check out my profile for updates on Fun Facts about ATRE, theres some good stuff to read. ahaha. Enjoy. :)**

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Sure enough, about half a mile up the pathway, we came to a large white house. Two children, who looked like they were around the age of eight, were chasing each other on the front lawn, laughing loudly as they did so. We all stopped on the path, just looking at the house, no one dared to move. "Is this it?" Suki asked, watching the children. No one answered, instead Zuko took and breathe and started towards the house.

"Excuse me," he called to the kids. They stopped running and laughing and stood together, as if scared by the stranger. But then the little girl recognised him.

"Hey, you're the Fire Lord." she pointed out. Zuko nodded.

"Yes, I am." The kids looked at each other and smiled widely.

"Cool," the boy said. "Lets go get mom." They both ran inside the house leaving Zuko standing there. We all walked up to him and waited. I looked at him and could tell that he was nervous. Finally after minutes of waiting, the door of the house opened and a tall woman walked out. She had long black hair that was left down, ivory skin, and brown eyes. Zuko looked at her, squinting his eyes to get a better look, but then he frowned and shook his head.

"It's not her…" he mumbled.

"Maybe she knows." Aang whispered. "Ask." Zuko looked down for a minute before swallowing, and then he looked back at her, opening his mouth to ask her. But then.

"Fire Lord Zuko, Avatar Aang, what pleasure do we have for you both coming to our home this fine afternoon?" she asked, the two children suddenly appearing from behind her. Zuko ran his tongue over his lips.

"I…I was told by someone that you know of a Fire Nation outcast by the name of Ursa…" The woman's mouth opened slightly and she looked down at her children, then back at Zuko.

"Why don't you all come in for some tea?" she asked, stepping aside so that we could walk into her house. We all looked at each other, but did as she requested. Her house was beautiful on the inside, even bigger then it looked on the out. We followed her into the dinning room where we all sat around a large table. The woman and her children stopped and watched as got comfortable in our seats. She was running her hair through the little girl's hair, her expression somewhere in between happy and nervous. "My name is Bo by the way," she announced to us. "These are my children, Ling," she said motioning to the girl. "And Lok." and then to the boy. We all introduced ourselves and she left to go prepare the drinks. She came back about five minutes later with a tray full of tea cups, and placed one in front of each of us. As I slowly blew the steam from my drink, I watched as Ling and Lok stood by Aang, looking at him curiously. Aang picked up his own cup and blew on it also before looking down at them.

"Are you really the Avatar?" Ling asked him. Aang smiled and nodded, taking a quick sip of the tea.

"Yes," he told her. She blinked, and raised an eyebrow.

"Did you have to learn all of the elements to beat the Fire Lord, or did you already know how to bend them?"

"I had to learn them."

"That must have taken a long time." Aang smiled again at the girl, I did too. She was very cute.

"It took me about a year." he confessed. Lok, who was on the other side of his, ran his small hand up Aang's arm along the blue stripe tattoo. Aang jumped slightly and looked down at him.

"How'd you get these tattoos?" Lok asked, having a slight lisp that was caused by the fact that he was missing one of his front teeth. He looked much like his sister, both of them having black hair like their mother, and both of them having deep hazel eyes.

"Well," Aang started. "The monks gave them to me when I was about eleven." He nodded and looked at the tattoo again.

"Did it hurt?" Before Aang could answer, Bo came over and tapped Lok on the shoulder. He looked up at her.

"Why don't you two go find your brother and let this poor boy drink his tea in peace?" she suggested with a motherly look on her face. They nodded and ran towards the stairwell.

"So how did you know Ursa? Where is she now?" Zuko asked before taking a long swig of his tea. Bo sat down at the table in-between Zuko and Aang and took a breath, folding her hands in her lap.

"Well, many years ago, before we even knew the Avatar had returned our city was destroyed by the Fire Nation soldiers and we were forced to relocate. On the way to our new town, my husband and I found a woman starving to death on the road side. We knew right away that she was Fire Nation because of the way she was dressed, but we helped her anyway, giving her some of our food and water." Zuko, like everyone else in the room was now giving the woman his undivided attention. This was it, after eight long years of wondering, Zuko was finally going to find out where his mother was. Bo stared down at the table and continued. "She told us that she was from the Fire Nation, though she did not tell us where, and that she was banished. We could tell that she was no threat to us and asked if she wanted to come live with us, undercover. She agreed and we made our way to our new home here in Shengshu. We kept her nationality secret for years; no one even suspected she was Fire Nation." Sokka crossed his arms and sat back in his chair.

"So where is she now, out with the Mr. or something?" he asked. Bo frowned and shook her head slowly.

"Two years ago…a terrible sickness invaded our town. Many people were infected, some people didn't make it…including my husband…and Ursa." Bo's eyes filled with tears and she looked away from us. I looked from her to Zuko; I could see that his expression was hurt and confused.

"She's…gone?" he queried. Bo closed her eyes, one of the tears making its way down her cheek.

"Yes…" A minute of silence went by before Zuko pushed himself roughly away from the table and stormed outside, all of us looked after him. I got up, intending to follow him outside and make sure he was okay but Toph stopped me by getting up herself.

"I'll go." she mumbled, before walking out of the room. I looked after her for a minute then sat back down. Zuko was standing outside of the house, staring out at the large lake that was only yards away. Toph walked up beside him.

"I was too late…" he muttered, still looking at the lake, but then he looked down at the ground. "I don't know why I'm so upset though. It's not like I wasn't expecting this. Deep inside, I always knew she was gone. I just couldn't bring myself to believe it." Toph began to chew on her bottom lip as she listened to him.

"It's okay you know," she began after a few seconds. He looked down at her, an eyebrow raised. "To cry. It's okay if you want too, it doesn't mean you're weak." Zuko's eyes shifted as he thought about what she was saying. "When I first found out my parents were killed…I didn't want to cry because I was scared it would make me look weak. But then Katara talked to me about her mom and how she felt when she died. She told me that crying doesn't mean you're weak…it means you care."

"Why are you telling me this?" Zuko asked his voice quiet. Toph shrugged her shoulders a little bit.

"Because I think it's something you need to know. You said that you don't know why you're upset; well…I think you do. I think you're upset because you care. You loved your mom…just like I loved mine." There was another pause. The silence was bitter as the two just stood there, then finally Zuko raised one hand to his face, covered it and began to cry. Toph leaned her head towards him and furrowed her eyebrows. She knew the pain of losing a parent; she knew the pain of losing two. So she knew how Zuko was feeling.

Inside we were all still sitting around the table. "Why did he want to know about Ursa?" Bo asked us, her voice hesitant.

"She's his mother…" Aang answered quietly. Bo's lips parted and her eyebrows furrowed, but she said nothing. Soon, Ling and Lok's laughter could be heard coming down the stairwell and they ran into the room. Bo looked at them.

"Did you find him?" Ling nodded quickly.

"Yes, he was in his room. He's coming down now." she said loudly. Suki smiled warmly at the children then looked at their mother.

"You have another child?" she asked. Bo looked at her and leaned her head to the side.

"Well…" Before she could answer, a familiar boy ran into the room, stopping just before he collided with the table. Ling and Lok smiled and lunged at him at the same time, Ling hanging off his neck, Lok hugging his waist.

"Tadanobu!" they called happily, hugging their brother tightly. He hugged them back and laughed.

"Come on little dudes, you just saw me upstairs." he told them, trying to shake them off. Bo stood up and put her hands on her hips.

"Ling, Lok, get off of him right now and go play!"

"Yikes, you guys better go…the witch has spoken…"he teased. Right away the children let go of him, screamed playfully and ran out of the room. Bo began to walk towards the doorframe and shook her head at the boy, Tadanobu. He smirked at her, shrugged, and took her place at the table, looking around at us. "Long time no see." he said, flashing a smile at us.

"So you live here?" Sokka asked bluntly. He looked at him.

"Yeah, guess I forgot to mention that bit of info. Names Tadanobu by the way." He looked around Aang and held out his hand, Aang took it.

"Aang…" he mumbled before Tadanobu looked around at the rest of us.

"Katara…"

"Suki."

"Sokka." Tadanobu narrowed his eyes and looked around the room, a half dazed expression on his face.

"Wait a sec...aren't you guys missing a head or two?" he inquired. I adjusted myself in my seat and nodded.

"Yeah, Toph and Zuko. They went outside for a minute." Tadanobu nodded, turned his head and looked out the window behind him.

"Toph…" he mumbled, then looked back at me. "Are them two…you know…an item?" he whispered the last two words. I blinked as the others laughed to themselves.

"Who, Toph and Zuko?" Sokka asked, putting his arm around Suki's shoulders. Tadanobu nodded slowly. "Are you kidding? One, Zuko already has a girlfriend. Two, Toph isn't the kind of girl who would have a boyfriend. I mean…did you see her?" he asked, snorting out a laugh. I looked at him with my eyebrows dipped. I knew he wasn't trying to sound like a total jerk, but the way that question came out made him sound like one, and I was about to call him on it but before I could the door opened and Zuko and Toph came in. Zuko looked extremely distressed and his eyes were slightly red. And Toph was looking down at the ground, her expression hurt. I couldn't help but wonder if she had heard what Sokka had said through the door or something. They both took their places at the table, Zuko straightened up before looking at Tadanobu.

"Whoa…" he mumbled, examining Zuko's red eyes. "You don't look so hot. No pun intended." Zuko made some sort of attempt of snarling at him but it didn't really work so he just looked away.

"So…what do we do now?" Toph asked, still facing downward. Suki, Sokka and I looked at Aang and Zuko, waiting for their response. Aang took a breath.

"You all should go looking for those prison escapee's that have been lurking around." Tadanobu advised quickly. We looked at him.

"Prison escapee's?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Bo came back into the room, bringing a tray of treats for us and put it down in the center of the table. She rolled her eyes at Tadanobu.

"Don't start with that!" she warned him, heading back for the other room. "The Avatar and the Fire Lord don't want to listen to your foolish predictions. They have more important things to worry about." As soon as she was gone, Aang turned to the bushy haired boy.

"What foolish predictions?" he wondered. Tadanobu looked over us, making sure that his mother was nowhere ear range, then he leaned in.

"Well," he started. "I was out the other day and I eavesdropped two travelers talking about it."

"About what?" Suki asked, keeping her voice just as hushed as his.

"Seems two prisoners from the Gaoling prison busted out a few days ago." Zuko's eye's widened and he looked back at the boy.

"The Gaoling prison?" he repeated, his voice shocked.

"Thats what I just said, and of course you guy's heard that Gaoling got-"

"Burned down, yeah…we know." Toph rushed before he could finish. There was a small pause as we all looked at her.

"Kay…" Tadanobu nodded, bringing the conversation back. "So that got me thinking. What kind of fluke is that? Two dangerous people escapes from a prison just outside of a city, then a day later the city gets toasted. Coincidence? Not a chance. But everyone I try to tell is like my aunt. They don't believe me."

"Why?" Sokka asked.

"Because the stupid warden of the prison ordered his bogus staff to keep it on the DL!" Tadanobu said angrily. Aang looked at me, a confused expression on his face.

"DL?" he asked in a whisper.

"Down low." I explained to him. He nodded. "But why would they keep something as important as that on the inside? They should have gone straight to Aang or Zuko!" I complained. This wasn't making any sense to me. Why would an entire prison want to keep that a secret? But Tadanobu merely smirked and shook his head.

"They couldn't…" he told me.

"Why not?"

"Because," Zuko started. "They would get in trouble if they did. Sokka snorted.

"Well, of course they would get in trouble. They let two psychopaths get away and burn down an entire city!" Zuko looked at him, his face no entirely serious.

"But they would have gotten in even more trouble because of the prisoner who escaped." he said, implying that he knew who the escapee was. Suki crossed her arms.

"Who…?" she asked, sounding a bit scared.

"My sister."

Tadanobu flashed a quick smile at Zuko, that clearly meant he was right. "Right to the point." he said in agreement. But just then, as he bowed his head his eyes seemed to turn an even deeper red then they already were, and his smile grew.

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**Chapter done :D**

**Oh man you guys, I am really sorry for all the spelling errors in my fic. I swear I am Dyslexic. :P**


	14. Fourteen

**Another chapter up! Man you guys, I'm like...all the way across the country on vaca and I'm still working my butt off on this fic. lol. Sadly I have no life. Anyway, I actually had a HUGE, and I mean HUGE writers block with this chapter. Luckily my friend who's on the trip with me helped me out(this is also the same friend who gave me the idea of Longwei)Also, soon, like with in the next six chapters she will be helping ALOT because Zutara will be coming in, and I am not a fan of them lol. So she'll be helping with most of that, and helping with some scenes that I get stuck on. Anyway, ranting lol. Enjoy****"Wait, wait, wait, back up a second. Your sister, was the one who burnt down Gaoling?" Sokka asked, looking dumbfounded at the Fire Lord. Zuko closed his eyes, held the bridge of his nose and shook his head.

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"Mm, hm…" he replied sounding and looking as if he had a headache. I looked from him to Tadanobu.

"But how do you know it's her? Is that what the travelers said?" I asked him, hoping that he wasn't sure and he just made a wild guess on who had escaped. It had been Zuko and I who fought Azula during Sozin's comet, and I who defeated her in the end. It was difficult I will admit that, and to tell you the truth I just got lucky. If I had not found the chain and the water trench that were conveniently in the same area I would have been scorched. Luckily I did find them both, but how easy was it going to be to beat her again? Would it be possible to luck in once more? And now, Azula was probably mad beyond belief at us for imprisoning her and her father. She would want revenge. Tadanobu sat back in his chair and crossed his arms.

"Yup. The exact words that came out of the dude's mouth were 'I heard it was the Fire Nation princess and some Earth Kingdom man.' That's what he said, so I'm sure." he said with a nod. Aang narrowed his eyebrows.

"I can't believe they didn't tell us. Who knows what Azula will do to get back at us. I mean, that's probably why she burned down Gaoling, to get to Toph." he turned to Toph. "Are you sure you don't remember anything about who took you to the mountains?" She shook her head at him.

"No, I already told you, I can't remember anything. I don't even remember sending you guys the letter." All of a sudden Suki shot up out of her seat, surprising everyone.

"Wait!" she cried, looking around at us. "Sokka told me that two_ Firebenders_ burned down Gaoling." Zuko opened his eyes and looked up at her.

"Yeah, so?"

"So, Tadanobu heard the traveler say that Azula and an _Earth Kingdom_ man escaped the prison. Something's not adding up." Suki sat back down in her seat, only to be automatically kissed on the cheek by Sokka who was leaning over from his seat.

"That's my girl." he said, clearly proud that she had discovered the problem.

"Maybe he's from the colonies?" Aang suggested with a shrug. Tadanobu sighed.

"Or not. He'd still be considered a Firebender if he was."

"Oh yeah…" Sokka looked at Tadanobu and raised an eyebrow.

"Wait, isn't Shengshu supposed to be a Fire Nation colony?" he asked randomly. Zuko looked at him.

"No, who said that?" Sokka looked from him to the Aang but then looked down.

"Never mind." I found my gaze soon traveling to the window and noticed that the sun was now starting to set. The sky that was once a bright blue was now turning purple, pink and orange, making the green land around glow an orangey colour. It was getting late.

"Well, if she's trying to get back at us," Toph started. "Wouldn't she be heading to Ba Sing Se? You know, after us?" Aang blinked.

"Yeah, that would make sense." he mumbled. Sokka frowned and looked at him.

"So what, we can't go back?"

"We can, and we should." Zuko said, standing up from his seat. "Right now. Let's go. We need to stop Azula before she can cause anymore damage." Aang stood up as well.

"Good idea. But…maybe not right this minute, its kind of late. We should at least find somewhere to sleep for the night."

"Ya'll can crash here if you want?" Tadanobu offered. "We have a guest room with bunk beds, you two can sleep there." he said pointing to me and Suki. "Then we have the sofa, the chair, the window seat, and well…the floor." Sokka quickly raised his hand in the air.

"Ooh, I call the sofa!" he shouted. Zuko nodded.

"Fine, I guess one night won't matter. I get the chair though."

"Then I'll have the window seat." Aang agreed. Toph leaned her head to the side.

"What about me?" she asked impatiently. Tadanobu smirked and looked at her.

"You can sleep with me if you want? I don't bite." he suggested with a grin. Toph made a face of disgust.

"Um, I'll just take the floor. I'll feel more comfortable there anyway."

For a few more hours we all just stayed in the dinning room talking about our plan to go back to Ba Sing Se and defeat Azula. It wasn't long before the sun was finally down and Ling and Lok were back in the room with us saying their goodnights, and leaving for their rooms, Bo going to tuck them in. "Your brother and sister are adorable." I said to Tadanobu as I watched them sleepily go up the stairs. He picked up knife that was on table, put it on its tip and began spinning it.

"They're not my brother and sister. They're my cousins." he said quietly. I looked at him.

"Cousins?" He nodded.

"Yup. When I younger my village got destroyed by Firebenders, my parents didn't survive. After that, my uncle and his wife took me in. I've been living with her ever since." Toph frowned as Tadanobu looked at her. "I guess that's something we have in common." he said softly. "Dead parents…"

Once again, Toph made a face of disgust and pushed herself away from the table. "Well, as much fun as this is, I'm going to bed." she snapped before heading out of the dinning room. Tadanobu furrowed his eyebrows and looked around.

"What did I say?"

The night went by fast, thankfully. In the morning we all awoke to the smell of fresh pig-chicken bacon, ostrich-horse eggs, and ripe fruit that Bo had made us for breakfast. After we were done eating, we thanked her for letting us stay the night, and headed out to go back to Appa. Tadanobu went with us, stating that he had always wanted to see a Sky-Bison. As we were walking down the main street however we were stopped by a sales merchant once again. Only this time it was a girl.

"Well hello there," she chimed walking straight in front of Aang to stop him. Zuko who was behind the rest of us looked at her, his expression curious.

"We're not interested in buying anything sweetheart, thank you very much." Tadanobu said, flat out, trying to push past her. But she just moved in front of him. I looked down at the object in her hand. It was a bottle of clear, sparkling blue liquid; it looked quite refreshing I had to admit.

"No need to buy anything, today we are handing out free samples in honor of the Dadi Festival tomorrow. This drink came all the way from the Ri Chu oasis, in the Si Wong Desert. It was made from the finest waters there, mixed with an Earth Kingdom special ingredient." While the woman was explaining what the drink was exactly, Zuko made his way over to Sokka and leaned close to him.

"Does she look familiar to you?" he whispered, still eyeing her closely. Sokka looked at him.

"What? No, why?"

"No reason." Zuko backed up a step and said nothing more.

"Besides," the woman said with a wink. "It would be my honor to serve the Fire Lord, and of course...the Avatar." She looked at Aang and gave him a half corrupt smile. He looked back at her before flashing a confused side glance at Zuko, who returned it immediately.

"Er...thanks." Aang said, looking back at the woman and holding out his hand to accept the drink. But before he could Sokka snatched it from her hands, a huge smile on his face.

"Mm, thanks a lot! This stuff looks delicious!" he chimed. The merchant scowled at him as we began to walk again. When we neared the patch of tree's where we had left Appa and Momo, we all said our goodbyes to Tadanobu.

"Well, it's been a slice." he said with a nod as Sokka, Toph, Suki and I climbed up on Appa and took our seats. Aang jumped up on the beasts head and looked down at him.

"Thanks again for giving us a place to sleep last night." he thanked him again. Tadanobu held up and hand and leaned his head to one side.

"No worries. Always happy to help the Avatar and the Fire Lord, when I can." he turned to Zuko who was just about to mount Appa. "Sorry about your mom, dude." Zuko looked back at him, his eyes passive.

"Yeah, well..." he mumbled. "It's no big deal." I stared him down as he climbed on the saddle and sat down beside me, my eyebrows furrowed.

"Zuko..." I whispered to him, but he merely looked away and ignored me.

"We should go now..." he said quietly. There was a short pause, until finally Aang nodded.

"Kay..." Before we could take off however, Tadanobu gasped and dug his hand into his pack.

"Hey ponytail, I almost forgot." he said, pulling out a blue object and hurling it into the air, it whizzed past Sokka. We all looked around just in time to see the small boomerang rounding back to us, Sokka held out his hand and caught it, mid air. He looked down at it and smiled.

"Boomerang!" he said happily before looking at the boy below us. "You were the buyer? But how did you know this was mine?" Tadanobu shrugged.

"I like to evesdrop on people, remember. Kinda paranoid like that." Sokka continued to smile and hugged the boomerang close to him. "By the way, Toph," Tadanobu started. Toph looked in his direction. "If you ever want a good time... you know where to find me." She sighed at this and shook her head.

"Yeah...I think we should go now..." she mumbled. We said one last goodbye to our new friend, then took off, heading back to Ba Sing Se. When we arrived there the next day, even though it was only about mid afternoon, we all went straight to bed. The first ones up the next morning were of course Sokka and Suki who right away headed downstairs for some breakfast. Toph was the next one up, she headed downstairs as well. Unfortunately as soon as she got to the kitchen doorway, Suki's giggling rang through her ears and she stopped.

"Sokka...!"Suki scolded with a laugh from inside the room, Toph's stomach turned. As the giggling continued, she could only imagine what they were doing in there, even though she didn't really want to imagine what they were doing. And the fact that she could only sense one pair of feet on the ground did not help the pictures going through her head. After about two minutes of awkwardly standing there, she took a deep breath and trudged in.

Suki was sitting on top of the counter, Sokka was in front of her leaning his face into her neck, nibbling lightly on her skin. As soon as she heard Toph enter however, she stopped giggling and leaned away from her boyfriend, a surprised expression on her face. Sokka turned to look at their intruder and sprung away from the counter. "Oh, Toph, morning!" he said casually. Toph gave him a quick half hearted smile before taking a seat at the table.

"So, what's for breakfast?" she asked, trying to seem like she didn't see, hear or sense anything. Suki slid off the counter and looked around quickly.

"Umm, well...there's actually a lot to choose from this morning. We didn't start making anything yet so, you can pick if you want." she replied, her face flushed. Toph scratched the back of her neck as she thought about it.

"Is there any congee left, Suki?" she asked after a few seconds. Sokka pulled open one of the cupboards and browsed through it. He pulled out a small package and held it up.

"Yup, there's one package left." Toph frowned and crossed her arms.

"I'm sorry, but is your name Suki? Because, I'm pretty sure I asked Suki!" she hissed to him. Sokka looked disconcerted for a minute as both he and Suki beamed at the blind girl.

"Yeah..." Suki began when nothing more was said. "We have some left."

"Good." Toph smiled again and leaned her head to the side, cracking it loudly. "I'll just have that Suki, thanks."

It was around eight thirty when Aang, Zuko and I woke up, then we all met downstairs and had breakfast together. And even though Suki, Sokka and Toph had already eaten, they stayed with us as well. "So, how are we going to find Azula? Any ideas?" Aang asked loudly. We all stayed quiet as we thought about it. After a minute, my eyes shifted to Zuko who was sitting beside me at the table. His expression was still cold, and he looked completely drained out. I smiled.

"Well, what about Zuko? He found us a couple times, right? I'm sure everyone remembers that." I playfully nudged Zuko in the arm, but instead of the response I was looking for, he just frowned. I guess my idea of cheering him up didn't work.

"Just because she's my sister, doesn't mean I know everything about her. I don't know where she would be." he said with a shrug. "My best guess is that she wants to be Fire Lord, so she might be heading back to the Fire Nation."

"Or," Sokka started, pointing his index finger at Zuko. "She might be heading to Ba Sing Se because she knows thats where you'd probably be. Which you are. I mean, she can't be the Fire Lord if you're the Fire Lord." Zuko nodded but said nothing.

"So...maybe she's already here?" Suki questioned, looking at her boyfriend. Sokka shrugged.

"If she is...someone has bound to have seen her."

"Then why don't we ask around?" Toph snorted.

"This city is huge! It would take us weeks to ask around. And by then, Azula would probably attack again." she spat. I cleared my throat and decided it was my turn to talk.

"What about if we split up. Suki and Sokka could take the middle ring. Toph and Zuko could take the lower ring. And Aang and I will stay around the upper ring. It would probably only take a day or two to do it that way." I suggested. Sokka cast me a look.

"I don't like that idea!" he snarled. I looked at him with an eyebrow raised and smiled smugly.

"Okay then, would you rather be with Zuko or Toph?"

"No! Thats not why I don't like it!"

"Then, why? Because me and Aang would be together?" I asked him. Zuko looked at me instantly.

"No!" Sokka tried to defend himself.

"I'm pretty sure thats it Sokka! And it's ridiculous! Aang and I are together all of the time and nothing ever happens!"

"What about you and Aang?" Zuko asked, bewildered. Toph sighed, as if she was tired of explaining this to people.

"They've been "together" together since after the comet!" she told him. He looked from me to Aang for a minute before nodding.

"Sokka, don't you trust us?" I said to my brother, pouting slightly. Sokka looked at me and rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I trust you! Fine! That sounds like a great plan..." he huffed in defeat. I smiled.

"Alright then," Aang said standing up. "Lets go."

* * *

It was a hot day in the Fire Nation, the sun was blazing down on the land. Many people were taking either shelter inside from the heat, in the shade, or swimming. In the city, under a large stone pagoda, a young woman about the age of seventeen was sitting on a small bench, looking out at the houses around her. Whenever a little bit a breeze hit, her long black hair danced along with the wind, coiling it's self around her thin framed face. A tall man in guards uniform slowly made his way over to the her, a piece of rolled up parchment in one hand. The minute she heard him approach her, she turned her head to look at him. He kneeled down in front of her on one knee, and held the parchment out to her. "Lady Mai," the man said while she took it from him and rolled it open, her eyes scanned back and forth across the page as she read. "Fire Lord Zuko sent this from Dichio a couple of days ago." Mai finished reading the scroll, and put it down, then she smiled.

"He's doing fine." she said with a smile. "He's almost found his mother. He's heading to Shengshu next, even though he's probably there now. He's probably with her as we speak." The guard smiled too as he stood up again.

"So he will be back soon then?" he asked softly. Mai shook her head and folded the parchment back up.

"Knowing Zuko," she started. "Probably not..."

* * *

**You guys, I think I'm going to have to change the rating of this story from T to M soon :/. There's nothing really grafic, but I just want to be safe. And all of you Zutarian's out there will be happy soon, lol...so thank Andy for that, she's my Zutara friend, yeah...And all of you Kataanger's like me, ahaha, get mad at her if you don't like anything. :)**


	15. Fifteen

**Okay so, apparently I'm being attacked by soooo many people about the whole Zutara thing coming up, and thats making some of the Zutarian's mad and that makes the Kataanger's mad and everyone's just in a big mad mess right now. Unless your one of those people who doesn't care, which if you are, I love you right now. ahha. But really, people, the Zutara isn't going to be half as bad as some of you think its going to be, really it isn't, I promise you that. Another thing I can promise is that Katara is not going to cheat on Aang, I repeat NOT. I would probably rather shoot myself in the leg then have that happen, because I can't see Katara doing that. ahha. Thank you so much to the people who aren't freaking out at me right now, you guys are the ones who keep me writing. :) Anyway, sappy, ahha, enjoy. **

* * *

Just as I had suggested, a few hours later we all set out in different directions to find someone who might have heard or seen something about Azula; Sokka and Suki headed for the Lower Ring, Toph and Zuko headed for the Middle Ring and Aang and I stayed in our neighborhood, the Upper Ring. By mid day, both Toph and Zuko were exhausted and frustrated. They had been searching the Middle Ring up and down for four hours straight and so far had found nothing, and to make matter worse it was blazing hot outside. Zuko slumped over to a bench that was sitting on the side of the street and sat down on it, Toph did the same." We've been searching for hours..." she complained, wiping the sweat from her forehead with her arm. "I don't think she's here..."

Zuko forced himself to swallow, even though his throat was extremely dry from dehydration, and looked out at the passing by civilians. A light trace of sweat polished his livid skin tone, causing it to glimmer in the sun, and his eyes seemed a little bit glossier then they had in a while. He didn't know why, but he had a strong feeling that Toph was very wrong, he was almost sure of himself that Azula was indeed somewhere in Ba Sing Se, but he couldn't prove it until he found some sort of proof. Toph sighed when he did not answer and sat back against the back of the bench. "Okay then..." she huffed, her eyes traveling downward.

"We'll search a little bit more." Zuko mumbled, almost too quietly for her to hear. He was too lost in thought to really communicate with her; he just wanted to find what he was looking for, talking wasn't really essential unless he absolutely had too.

"I wonder what Sokka and Suki are doing." Toph tried to start conversation a few minutes later.

"The same thing we're doing." he answered coldly. Toph crossed her arms.

"I hope so, I hate to think of them necking each other out in public..." Zuko looked down at her with a bewildered look on his face.

"Necking?" he questioned. "Where's this coming from?"

"I walked in on them this morning...pathetic if you ask me. Couples make me sick. I mean, I don't have a guy, and I'm doing fine! I don't see why girls just _need_ to have a boyfriend. Especially one like Sokka." Toph shivered while she said this, then laughed. "I actually feel kind of sorry for Suki." To Zuko, the look on Toph's face said it all. Despite her complaints and constant tantalizing, he was pretty sure she didn't mean everything she was saying, and he was beginning to wonder if she had some sort of secret affection for Sokka. Toph threw back her head and began to laugh harder. "Oh man, I think I would rather date Twinkle-Toes before I'd date Sokka, and that's saying something." That was it; Zuko had to ask about this, he was curious.

"Are you sure about that?" he asked quietly. The moment the question had left Zuko lips, Toph stopped laughing and looked at him, her eyebrows narrowed.

"And just what's that suppose to mean?" she demanded bitterly. Zuko ran his tongue between his lips, moistening them before continuing.

"Well, its just...its seems like you, I dunno...kind of like Sokka." Before he had time to dodge it, Toph's fist lunged out and hit him square in the chest, hard, knocking the wind out of him right away. Zuko let out a breathy moan as he clutched the spot where she had struck.

"Don't ever say that again!" she hissed through her teeth. "There is no way I'd ever in a million, billion years, ever like him that way! Ever!" Zuko nodded as he continued to hold his chest. That indeed answered his question. Toph scowled and turned away from him, crossing her arms as she did so. When Zuko had his breath fully regulated he spoke again, breaking the uncomfortable silence between them.

"We should probably, start looking again..." he suggested. Toph nodded slowly, still not facing him.

"Yeah, we should!"

* * *

In the Upper Ring, Aang and I were also getting tired. We had searched the entire neighborhood two times and nobody seemed to have seen anything out of the ordinary, most people didn't even know Azula had escaped form prison. Luckily not too many people lived in the Upper Ring; it was probably the least populated part of the city, so it didn't take us that long. After our second time going around we decided to head back home for some lunch and a drink. When we got there, we both had a little bit of rice and some fresh lemonade. We were going to try some of the Ri Chu oasis water that the merchant had given Aang in Shengshu but decided on the lemonade instead, which I thought was a pretty good call because it was delicious. "Do you think the others found anything?" he asked me as we sat at the table. I looked out the window at Appa who was lazily lying down on the grass, probably tired because of the heat. Momo was on top of him, lying down as well.

"I don't know..." I answered him quietly. I was tired and hot, and I no longer wanted to do or talk about anything that related to Azula, I just wanted to relax. Aang sat back in his chair and exhaled.

"I hope they did, I really don't want this to turn into another big deal like the War was."

"It probably won't, Aang." I assured him. "Nothing could be that big of a deal." I looked at him and smiled, he smiled back.

"You're right," he started. "It probably won't." There was a short silence as we sat there looking at each other. After a few minutes my eyes drifted to the table.

"Aang,"

"Yeah?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. I could feel a blush wash over my face and I swallowed.

"Do you want to...go up to my room for a bit?" Aang looked at me for a second before smiling innocently; he clearly wasn't getting what I was implying.

"Okay." he chimed. We both headed up to my room, Aang a few steps in front of me. I had to admit I was a bit nervous as my oak wood door came into view, and I found my hands becoming slightly sweaty and my heart beat increase. When we got into my room, I shut the door behind me and faced Aang, who was looking back at me as well, the same smile on his face. "So, what did you wan-" he began, but before he could finished I was already to him and had my lips, and body pressed to his. He stumbled back a step, surprised by my actions before kissing me back and putting his hands on my hips, pulling me closer. I took a step forward and pushed him down on my bed, lying myself on top of him.

This was nothing new to us; we did things like this all of the time so really it was no big deal. Though, I was a little scared of what his reaction would be when I slowly pulled his shirt over his head, but luckily he did nothing, he actually even sat up a bit to help me remove it. I smiled through our kiss before moving my lips to his chin, then down his neck to his collarbone. This was new, we had never kissed like this with his shirt off before, I rather liked it, and judging by the hushed moans that were escaping his mouth, Aang did too. I moved my kissed back to his lips and began to run my hands over the muscles of his chest. They were firm yet his skin was so soft and warm. This time his lips traveled down my jaw line to the side of my neck where he ran his teeth over and nibbled my skin. I sighed as he did this, and slowly moved my hands to the hem of his pants, trying to force my fingers under the tight fabric. Aang flinched and rolled me off of him immediately, then sat up and looked at me, his expression concerned. I sat up as well and dipped my eyebrows down. "Are you okay?" I asked him. He hesitated before nodding.

"Yeah..." he answered me."I'm fine. But maybe...we should stop here." Of course he was going to say this, what else would I have expected. I leaned back into him and began to kiss the crook of his neck.

"Why?" I mumbled in between my kisses. "We're the only ones home, it's not like anyone's going to walk in on us." Aang's eyes rolled back in his head and he was quiet for a minute, just enjoying my soft kisses on his skin. But after a few seconds reality hit him and he pushed me away again.

"I know, it's just...I can't...I mean if we kept going I'd...well...I might not be able to...control myself." Aang looked down as his cheeks turned pink. I couldn't help but giggle at his honesty. Most boys would dive at the chance to lose control with a girl, but Aang was different, he was a gentleman. Unfortunately I didn't want a gentleman anymore, I wanted my boyfriend. I took his hand in mine and smiled sweetly at him.

"You don't have to..." I said quietly. He raised an eyebrow and looked at me, confused once more.

"Wh-what?" he stuttered. I bit my bottom lip and looked down, finally gathering up enough courage to do this.

"You don't have to control yourself. We're alone right now, in my bedroom. Why not...I don't know...do something more then just kissing."

"Katara...are you serious?" Aang's expression was now somewhere in between disgust, confusion and embarrassment. I began to feel a little less confident about the whole situation when I saw this and narrowed my eyebrows in defense.

"Of course I'm serious, why wouldn't I be?" Aang twitched his hand away from mine.

"We're kids, if we'd be doing something other then kissing we'd be-" he began.

"Yes I know!" I finished for him, annoyance in my tone. "So why not? Who cares if we're just kids? We've been in love for basically the whole year!" Aang nodded, but narrowed his eyes slightly.

"I know that I'm new to this stuff and all, but I'm pretty sure people wait longer then that to do this that kind of stuff, especially when their only teenagers."

"Well, I think you were in that iceberg way to long, because things have changed!" I argued, getting quite angry. "Not many thirteen year olds have girlfriends willing to do this kind of thing, Aang. You should take advantage of it!" Aang scrunched his nose up, looking as if he had just smelled something terrible and curled his upper lip.

"Take advantage of it?" he snarled. "What is this...a game to you, Katara? Sokka would kill me if he found out!"

"He wouldn't have to find out! He's not here right now, how would he know?" Of course it was Sokka who was the reason Aang refused this, he always got in the way of my life. Aang shook his head.

"I just don't think it's a good idea..." he muttered, no longer mad. I on the other hand was fuming, I felt like I wanted to scream, or cry. The second option was a go, and tears started to pool in the corners of the eyes. Aang looked at me and frowned.

"Fine!" I snapped, looking away just in time for one single tear to fall down my cheek.

"Katara," Aang whispered. "Please, don't cry..." I shook my head.

"I can't help it...I thought you loved me." Yes, I pulled this card. I was so mad at him that I wanted him to feel somewhat bad about what he was doing to me; I wanted him to cave so I was going to try everything I could. Getting mad, crying, anything. Aang looked horrified when I said this and he scooted closer to me.

"Why would you say that? Of course I love you, I've loved you since the moment you found me in the iceberg." he said trying to make me feel better. I turned my head sharply to look at him, my eyes big and watery.

"Then prove it..." I pleaded. Aang was quiet for a long minute, his eyes staying locked onto mine. Then he slowly leaned into me and placed a small peck on my mouth.

"Not today..." he mumbled, resting his forehead on mine. I sighed and closed my eyes.

"Then when?"

"Please try to understand, Katara...I'm not ready for that stuff yet. And I have so much more important things to worry about right now."

"So I'm not important?"

"You're the most important! But _that_ isn't. I need to stay focused on stopping Azula before it's too late. I can't afford any little distractions like this." Aang leaned away form me and watched as I thought about what he was saying. It did make sense. If we did do it, there were so many consequences that would not be worth worrying about while trying to defeat an enemy. If it meant that much to him not to do it now, I would try to respect that. But that didn't mean I was going to stop trying to get him to agree to it, I just wouldn't force him into it.

"Okay...I understand..." I sighed with a nod. He smiled.

"Thank you." he thanked me. I tried to force a smile, but if came out more like a crooked unconvincing grin.

"No problem…"

* * *

"Thank you very much." Suki smiled at the woman who she had asked about Azula before turning around to rejoin Sokka. When she got to him she shook her head. "Another one didn't see anything." she told him as they continued to walk down the street. They were now in the Middle Ring, heading back to the Upper Ring but decided to stop and ask some people just incase Toph and Zuko had missed someone.

"Mm…" Sokka grumbled. He had been quiet the whole time they were out, and almost never dropped his arms from being crossed over his chest. Suki looked at him, deciding to finally ask about his odd mood.

"What's wrong Sokka? You're usually not like this…" Sokka's eyes widened and he looked at her.

"What do you mean? Nothings wrong, I'm just…Sokka." He forced a smile and her, though she could tell it was forced.

"No, you're not just Sokka. You're Sokka who has had something on his mind for the past day. Now what's wrong?" He dropped his head in defeat and sighed.

"It's just…Aang and Katara…I can't stop thinking about them!" He said Aang's name through clenched teeth, the mumbled the rest. Suki giggled when she understood.

"Why does it bother you so much, Sokka? Aang's like your best friend, don't you trust him?" she asked. Sokka closed his eyes, put his arm around her shoulders and shook his head, a small grin on his face.

"Suki, Suki, Suki…" he began snidely. "Trust has nothing to do with it, trust me."

"What do you mean? Trust has everything to do with a relationship, especially when it's with the people who are with the people we love most." Suki didn't fully understand what he was telling her. He was making it seem like she knew nothing about the situation, which she did. He sighed again.

"Don't worry, I wouldn't expect you to understand, what with you being a girl and all. You just don't know how guys work." Suki stopped dead in her tracks and looked at her boyfriend. He didn't stop walking.

"Oh, don't I?" she asked, throwing her hands on her hips. Sokka slowed his pace and turned around to face her.

"Well…no. I mean, it's different for girls, they actually want a relationship. Guys, guys only want one th-"Sokka stopped himself as soon as he saw the death glare he was receiving and blushed. Suki narrowed her eyes at him.

"Oh, they do, do they? Only one thing?" She wanted started again and pushed past him, her nose high in the air. Sokka mentally punched himself in the face and rushed to keep up with her.

"No, I mean…er…not guys like me. Kids! Kids who are just coming into the whole…dating age. They don't know what they're doing. I know what I'm doing." he rushed, some of his words tangling together. Suki side glanced him.

"Uh huh…"

"But that's not the point! The point is, she's my baby sister. I've basically raised her since our mom died. And when dad left, he made me promise to protect her. What kind of son would I be if I broke that promise?" The couple stopped walking and looked at each other, Sokka looking completely distressed. Suki frowned.

"Sokka," She put her hand on his cheek and pulled him a little bit closer. "How would you feel if someone kept getting in our way?"

"I'm not getting in their way! And that's different anyway, we're older…more mature."

"You, more mature then Aang?" Suki raised an eyebrow and smiled. Sokka merely smirked and rolled his eyes.

"Okay…so maybe he's a little bit more mature then me for some things! But he's still a kid." They started to walk again.

"So are you…" Suki hushed to him as he took her hand in his, twining their fingers together.

"It's not the same thing…" Sokka said, keeping his eyes looking forward. Suki huffed. Sokka was just too stubborn to understand the truth of the matter, and she feared that this was going to be problem.


	16. Sixteen

**Chapter 16 already, oh wow. Anyway, not much to say today except for...enjoy :D**

* * *

"Are you sure you're not still upset?" Aang asked me as we sat in the family room together. It had been about twenty minutes since our little argument, and I was still not fully alright with the outcome, but I wasn't really upset anymore. I nodded as I pulled my feet under my on the chair, getting comfy.

"I'm sure." I said, half truthfully. Aang nodded and looked out the window, his face was still a little pink. I decided to change the subject. "So, if the others didn't find anything, what are we going to do?" Aang looked down as he thought about it, his eyebrows scrunched together.

"Well…I guess I'll have to go off and try to find more information somewhere else."

"What about the rest of us?" I asked. I didn't want Aang to leave us, or me I should say. I liked being with him as much as I could, but if he had to leave, then there was no telling when we would see each other again. It could take months to find out where Azula was, and then maybe more time to actually find her and defeat her. We would be slowly torn apart, but I guess I always knew there was going to be obstacles in our way since Aang was the Avatar.

"If I leave," he continued. "Zuko and I will probably go to the other Nations leaders and plot with them. So, it would probably be best if the rest of you stayed here." he told me. I sighed and shook my head.

"I knew you were going to say that…" I muttered disappointedly. "Why do you think that the rest of us can't help? We obviously can, didn't we prove that during the war?" Aang blinked at me and tried to think of a way to answer.

"I…yes you did. But that's not why I don't want you to come." Aang exhaled and leaned his head back into the chair that he was sitting on, as if he was frustrated with me not understand what he was saying. I raised an eyebrow and looked at him.

"Then…why?" Before he had time to answer, we heard the sound of the front door opening, and both of us looked up.

"Hello?" Aang called, slowly getting up off the chair.

"We're home!" Suki's voice rang through the hallway to the family room. Aang dashed to door and disappeared down the hallway, I got up and followed. Suki and Sokka where standing by the front door, the two of them looked tired and hot, sweat was pouring down Sokka's neck and forehead, and his shirt looked slightly damp in areas.

"Well, did you find anything?" Aang questioned as he and I stopped in front of them. He looked at Sokka for the answer.

"No," he replied bluntly. "You?" Aang shook his head and looked at the ground.

"We didn't either."

"Well, there's still Zuko and Toph, right?" Suki added trying to keep the conversation hopeful. "They might have found something." I side glanced my brother and noticed that he was looking at me strangely, as if trying to see through me or something. His eyebrows were furrowed and one of them was slightly raised, his nose was scrunched as well, and he was frowning. I turned my head to him, looking at him straight on.

"Sokka…?" I asked quietly, a little creeped out by the look he was giving me. Suki and Aang, who had still been talking about Zuko and Toph stopped and looked at us. Suki noticed the look as well.

"Sokka, what is it?" she asked, laying a hand on his shoulder. Sokka's eyes narrowed a little and his hand shot into the air, his index finger only inches from my face. I flinched, surprised by his actions.

"What is that?" he demanded, his voice quiet yet stern. My eyes shifted down to examine myself; nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. I looked back at Sokka, confused, trying to wordlessly tell him that I had no idea what he was talking about, but he said nothing. He just continued to stair, and point. So I moved my gaze to Suki who was looking at me. Her face looked shocked and slightly horrified. Our eyes met and I could see that hers were filled with embarrassment. I raised an eyebrow and slowly turned to Aang who was looking away completely, his cheeks carmine.

"Okay…" I whispered to myself. "Does anyone want to fill me in on what I'm clearly not getting?" Suki chewed her bottom lip uncomfortably.

"Mirror…" she muttered. I turned my head and looked behind me, trying to see if there was a mirror somewhere near by. There wasn't so I turned around and headed down the hallway towards the bathroom, every step I took I got more and more nervous about what I was going to find when I got there. Once in the bathroom I peered into the mirror and looked myself over, nothing seemed to be wrong with my appearance until that is I found the small purple mark halfway down the side of my neck. My eyes widened, I raised my hand and brushed my fingers over it carefully as if it would hurt to touch. So that's what they were looking at. I felt my face get hot and my heart dropped. I continued to stroke the small hickey that Aang had left on my skin earlier, hoping that it would somehow mysteriously fade away the more I did so. Unfortunately it just stayed the noticeable shade of eggplant. I needed an excuse, and I needed one fast. So after a minute or two of thinking of one I finally started to make my way back to the others.

"Well?" Sokka urged as I walked up to them. I looked up at him innocently.

"It's a bruise." I lied.

"A bruise? Really? That the best you got?"

"It is a bruise," Aang continued for me, still looking at the ground. Both Sokka and I looked at him. "I was practicing Earthbending earlier and well…I accidentally hit her." It wasn't a very convincing lie; I knew that, Sokka knew that. He snickered at Aang's attempts, though he didn't seem very impressed.

"I'm not stupid! I know what it is." he hissed suddenly very serious. Aang closed his eyes tightly and flinched as if he though Sokka was going to strike him. I rolled my eyes, not wanting to get into this right now. I didn't really see what the big deal was either; it was basically just a bruise. Basically.

"I thought you said I could trust you!" Sokka turned to me.

"And you can, it's not a big deal Sokka. It's just a…" I tried to think of a suitable word for what exactly was on my neck. Finally it came to me. "A love-bite." Sokka puckered his lips, closed his eyes and threw both of his hands up.

"I…you…he…just…" he stuttered, clearly bothered by what I had said. "Don't…call it that! Just don't." I crossed my arms and gave him a look.

"Okay, hickey any better?"

"Just don't call it anything!" Sokka shouted at me. Suki tried to hold back her laughter by pursing her lips. To her, Sokka was being a hilarious stereotypical protective older brother, and it was quite funny.

"Sokka, it's not…" Aang began but stopped himself when I shook my head violently at him, warning him not to tread too far.

"Alright," Sokka started before taking a deep breath and clasping his hands together. "Here's what we're going to do. Since nothing that bad happened this time, I'm going to let you two off with a warning. Katara, as your older brother I forbid you from spending alone-time with Aang anymore. No questions asked." My jaw dropped and my head snapped to look at him, Aang's did as well.

"How is that a warning?" I snapped the question rather rudely at him. He just crossed his arms.

"**No**, questions asked!" Aang and I looked at each other with hurt and angered expressions.

For the rest of the day, I didn't talk to anyone unless spoken to first; unless it was Sokka, which if it was I didn't even do that much. Zuko and Toph arrived home about two hours after Sokka and Suki had and told us that they had surprisingly found nothing. Aang told Zuko that they should meet up with all of the Nations Leaders and discuss what to do next. He agreed and the two decided to head to the Earth King's Palace the next day. This only made me angrier, because I knew that after the Earth King, Aang would half to go back to the Water Tribes to find Hakoda, chief of the Southern Water Tribe, and Arnook, King of the Northern. Then from there, he would have to find Azula, so we didn't have that much time together. And now with this new _"no alone time"_ rule we had even less.

When everyone else had gone to bed, and far after they were asleep, Sokka who couldn't sleep paced back and forth in his room, thinking about his sister and the Avatar. He had come to the conclusion that Aang was doing this just to bug him, just to test his waters. Well, he wasn't going to get very far, because Sokka fully intended to do everything he could to make sure nothing more happened between the two. He soon tired of pacing and sat down on his bed, staring at the large book that was lying on his bedside table. He hadn't read it since the night he and Suki found out how to read it and thought that maybe now, since he couldn't sleep, would be a good time to actually take a look at it. So he reached over to it, picked it up, opened it to the first page and angled it from the light so that the words appeared.

"Chapter One," he read aloud. "The Power of Shadowbending." Sokka's eyes moved to the picture on the next page. It was of some kind of human like creature that was extremely tall and lanky. The top of its shadowed body, its shoulder area was hunched over, leading to its thin neck and head, it's face was also cast in shadow but its eyes were snow white, no iris, no pupil. Its arms seemed too long for its body, dragging down to its knee's and both its feet and hands look undeveloped. Sokka looked at the caption above the picture. "Shadowbender…" He shivered at the sight of the picture and began to read the rest of the page.

Outside, everything was still and quiet. Since it was the middle of the night, not much was awake, even Appa and Momo were asleep in the large stone stable that Aang had made for them just outside of the house. But something was odd about the unnatural stillness. Usually there would be at least an ally gecko-cat or something roaming the streets, but there was nothing, or so it seemed. Walking down one of the streets, making its way towards the gang's estate was a figure hidden underneath a large black cloak, the hood covering its face. It walked quickly, as though it was in a hurry, and behind it something slithered quickly, hidden in the darkness. When the figure reached the estates wall, it stopped; the creature coming behind it stopped as well, and stood up straight. It looked identical to the picture Sokka had seen in the book, a shadowbender. The figure, who's head had been facing down the entire time looked up, its nose and mouth now visible from the light.

"We're here." It was a woman's voice who spoke, but not just any woman, it was Azula. She brought her hands up and pushed the hood off over her hair. She was no longer the Earth Kingdom woman, but she was no in fact Azula again, the actual Azula; black hair, topaz eyes and everything. The shadowbender looked at her, its white eyes searching for something. Its mouth opened a little, reviling long contorted teeth inside. Azula smirked. "Well," she started quietly, sounding satisfied for some reason. "You know what to do."

The shadowbender nodded its head then looked back at the wall. Then, without warning it shot back to the ground and slithered quickly over the wall to the other side. Azula casually walked over to the wall's gate and picked up the lock in one hand. With the other she pressed her index and middle finger to the key hole and shot and bolt of blue lightning into it, making the area around her light up.

Sokka who was still inside reading looked up at the quick flash that came from his window. He narrowed his eyes waiting for something else to happen but when it didn't he just shrugged and went back to his book.

The Shadowbending bolted to the house's front door and slipped through the small crack between the ground and the door. Inside the house it went from room to room, seeming to be looking for something. When it got to one of the family rooms it turned back from the shadow to the solid looking creature it had been outside and stood in the center of the room, slowly looking around. He stalked over to a large mantle on one side of the room. On top of it were some small knick-knacks and photographs of each of the six friends. He slowly examined each one, his eyes locked on each of their faces, then he stopped on one, a picture of all six of them together. He stared at it for a while, focusing only on Zuko and Aang. Then his gaze moved to the person who was leaning on Aang's shoulder, Katara. He looked at her for a long minute, scanning every one of her features. After a minute he slowly reached up his hand and ran the tip of his long index finger over her face. Dismally, he pressed a little too hard and the picture lost balance, wobbled a bit then fell forwards to the ground, making a loud crash. Immediately the shadowbender spun to look at the door, listening for any sign of movement somewhere in the house.

Sokka had heard the crash of the picture and decided to get up to check it out. He closed the book and laid it down on his bed before getting up and slowly walking to his door. He opened it and peered out. "Suki…" he called, thinking that his girlfriend might be coming to pay him a midnight visit. But there was no answer, so Sokka continued to walk down the hallway towards Katara's room. "Katara, I swear to the spirits, if you're-"he began angrily, hoping that his sister hadn't snuck out of her room to go to Aang's. But when he opened her door and crack and peeked in, she was sound asleep on her bed. Sokka raised an eyebrow and closed the door, a bit confused. After that he headed downstairs and searched the rooms, finally finding the cause of the sound in the family room. He sighed in relief when he saw the picture laying face down on the ground and walked over to pick it up. For a minute he had thought a burglar had broken into the house and was beginning to worry, but now his mind was at ease again. He put the picture back on the mantle and looked around the dark room; nothing was there so he started back to his room.

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The door to Appa's stable creaked open and Azula walked inside. Appa who was sleeping heard someone enter, his big brown eyes opened and he looked around. Momo who was sleeping on top of him awoke too. Azula smirked at the beast as he turned on her and moaned knowingly.

"We meet again." she announced quietly, looking into his eyes. Appa seemed to recognize her because he took a step backwards, brushing against the stone wall behind him. Azula looked at a large pile of hay about the size of Appa himself that was beside her and she raised her hand. "You know," she began turning her gaze back at Appa. "As I recall…you don't like fire that much. Do you?" Without another word Azula shot a blast of blue fire at the hay bale which automatically set ablaze. Both Momo and Appa began to panic and screech, the fire apparently scaring both of them. Azula smiled once more before backing up out of the stable and slamming the door behind her, making sure there was no way out for the animals.


	17. Seventeen

**Okay, so for some reason this chapter has been giving me a lot of trouble, and it just dissapeared from this site, like...no one could read it. I got a couple of pm's and everything so...yeah...I re-uploaded it. lol. Anyway, once again I am so sorry for the crappy lack of dialog chapter, I've been sick for like the past week and I've been tired aaaaaal the time and I just haven't been in the writing mood. So I'm really sorry, but I'm starting to feel better now so the next chapter will be better. Well, enjoy. Enjoy****

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Sokka was just about to push open his bedroom door when he heard the frightening screeching coming from the other side. He froze and listened, his hand wrapped around the cold steel doorknob. "What the…?" he mumbled to himself before slowly twisting the knob and pushing the door open.

Inside of his room, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, and there was defiantly no one there to be making the noise. Sokka raised an eyebrow, a little confused, but then he realised the sound was coming from his half opened window. He sauntered over to it and peered outside, what he saw caused his heart to stop. The large stone stable that sat in the middle of the yard was surrounded by fire, Appa and Momo could be heard screaming and thumping, trying to escape. After a couple seconds of lifelessly staring at the scene below, Sokka's instincts kicked in and he ran back to the hall, slipping as he turned the sharp corner of his doorway and he hit the wall opposite him.

"WAKE UP!" he screamed, pushing himself to continue down the hallway. "WAKE UP!" The yelling did in fact wake me up. I sighed, got out of my bed and went to my door, opening it and looking into the hallway at my brother who was banging on each of the doors before mine.

"Sokka, what's your problem?" I asked, my voice drained from tiredness. I figured that it was probably something stupid, something only Sokka would think was a big deal, but as he ignored me and dashed up the stairs towards Aang's room, I started to worry. "Sokka…?"

"AANG, WAKE UP!" I heard him yell. The others opened their doors, all of them looked just as tired as I felt.

"What's going on…?" Toph murmured, rubbing her eyes. I didn't know how to answer her question, because I didn't know the answer myself, so instead of answering, I ran out of my room to follow my brother. Sokka was at the top of the staircase, pounding on Aang's door with his fist.

"Aang! Wake up!" he kept demanding. The door slowly opened and Aang almost got punched in the face by Sokka who was still knocking.

"Sokka?" he cried the question as he ducked out of the way. Sokka frowned and lowered his arm.

"Look outside." Zuko, Toph and Suki all joined us in Aang's bedroom and we went out onto his balcony to see what all the fuss was about. To all of our horror however, we realised why Sokka was in such a hurry to wake us up. Aang's face filled with dread as the flames reflected in his smoky eyes. Then without warning, he dove off the balcony to the ground below. I turned around and headed back to the stairs.

"Come on, we have to help!" I ordered. We all ran down the stairs as fast as we could, though when we came to the second set, Sokka turned down the hallway instead of fallowing us.

"I'll go get my boomerang!" he informed us, hurrying to his room. He threw open the door and took one step in, but something stopped him from doing anything more. Standing there, with its back turned to him, facing the bed was a large shadowlike creature that towered about seven feet tall. Sokka gaped at it, frozen where he stood. He didn't know what to do, whether to call for help, attack, or just run away. He felt like he couldn't breath, the fear that filled his body was blocking out everything else. All of his senses weren't working properly, he couldn't feel anything, he couldn't hear anything. Even his vision was only surrounding the creature. Suddenly, its large skeleton like head slowly tilted to the side, as if it could somehow hear Sokka's hushed breath, before turning around fully facing the Water Tribe boy. Sokka's mouth went dry and he took a step backwards, terrified of what was going to happen next. His blue eyes locked with the snowy inert orbs of the shadow, and all life around him seemed to stop. Sokka could now hear, no feel his heart hammering against his chest, he had no idea what this thing was, he had never seen anything like it. Or had he? A faint memory of the picture from the book filled his mind, and he remembered, a Shadowbender. The shadowbender's white eyes narrowed slightly, and Sokka's blue ones, turned coal black.

Outside, Aang and I were trying our best to create the largest water sphere we could conger from the small pond that was conveniently only a few feet away from the stable. We managed to take the entire thing and threw it with all our might over the extending fire. There was a loud hissing sound, and the flames immediately died down, only to be replaced with steam. Aang and Zuko rushed over to the stable and pushed the large stone lock out of the way, the door opened. Appa who must have been right there rushed outside, his fur a bit singed and he was badly shaken.

"Appa!" I cried, petting his face, trying to calm him down. "It's okay…its okay…" I could see and feel his enormous body shaking under my touch, and his eyes were wide.

"Momo!" I heard Aang cry from behind me. I turned around to see the small lemur crawling himself out of the stable, rather slow.

"What's wrong? Why isn't he flying?" Suki asked, watching as Aang bent over and held out his arms for the animal. Momo climbed into them right away and nuzzled himself against Aang's chest. Aang held him up so that he could see better. His left arm and wing were burned immensely; half of the wing wasn't even there anymore. Aang held Momo close to him again and stood up, his eyebrows furrowed.

"He's burnt pretty bad…" he told us hesitantly. We all stayed quiet, looking down at the ground.

"It's a shame isn't it?" The sudden voice surprised me, as it did the others, and we all looked up. Standing causally on the top of the wall surrounding our estate was Azula, arms crossed, and a large satisfied grin plastered to her face. Zuko took a step forward and narrowed his eyes.

"Azula!" he hissed, balling his hands into fists. Azula looked down at him and smiled innocently.

"Hello, Zu-Zu. Miss me?" she asked.

"Not especially." Zuko answered truthfully. Azula leaned her head to the side, and shrugged her shoulders up.

"Oh come now, not even a little?"

"You tried to kill Appa and Momo!" Aang yelled at her, putting Momo on the ground so that he could ready himself for a fight if necessary. Azula lidded her eyes.

"Tries, yes. But clearly I did not succeed." I looked at Aang just in time to see his tattoos and eyes begin to glow fiercely. It had been a long time since I had seen him go into the Avatar State, at least three months, and I had forgotten how scary it was. The air around us began to blow extremely hard, almost like we were inside of a tornado or wind tunnel, and Aang began to rise into the air. My gaze moved back to Azula who was just standing there, her look of amusement hadn't changed one bit. Out of nowhere, a sharp looking object came whizzing past us and hit Aang square in the side of the head, causing him to crash to the ground, no longer glowing.

"Aang!" I shouted, running over to his side and dropping to my knees to see if he was okay. He was knocked out, and the whole side of his head was covered in blood. Lying beside him in the grass was the silver and blue boomerang I knew too well.

"Sokka?" Suki gasped in a shocked voice. I looked behind me, and sure enough there was Sokka, standing about ten feet away from me, almost right beside Suki, clutching The Book of Shadows in his arms. He was staring up at Azula, his expression empty, there was something different about him, but I just couldn't place it. It was Zuko who first noticed what was wrong, Sokka's eyes were no longer the azure they were supposed to be, but they were now jet black.

"It's not Sokka…" he said to her, his voice quiet.

"I've got the book your highness." _Sokka _announced, holding the book up so that Azula could see it clearly. She nodded.

"Very good, now, lets go." With that she turned and started off the other side of the wall.

"Oh no you don't!" Toph snapped, stomping her foot into the ground sending a rough tremor to shoot up the wall. Azula lost her footing and fell, unfortunately she was too quick and just before she could hit the ground she put out her hand and pushed herself up again. Then she jumped down from the wall.

Sokka smiled and began to follow her. Luckily I remembered the small amount of water that was still on the ground from putting out the fire and I quickly forced a water whip out of it and thrashed it at the imposter. It hit him square in the chest and he flew backwards landing on his back.

"Suki, get the book!" I demanded. Suki nodded and quickly ran over to him. He was still lightly holding onto the book in one hand, but she had no difficulties what so ever trying to pry it away from him, and as soon as she had it she began to rush back towards the rest of us. But just then a large black shadow immerged from Sokka's body and bolted after her, coiling around her feet and tripping her. Suki screamed and plummeted to the ground landing on the book, the shadow creature twined it's self around her, trying to find it.

"Get it off!" she shrieked, terrified by whatever was mauling her. Zuko stepped forward and punched the air, sending a fire blast right beside them. It hit the ground and exploded, causing the light to whirl around them. Right away the shadow backed off of Suki and began screaming a high pitch wail. We all stared in awe as it curled around itself as if it was in pain, then shot off after Azula.

Both Aang and Sokka didn't come too for about a half an hour, in that time we all headed inside to sit in the family room. Sokka, Suki and Toph sat themselves on the couch. Aang sat on a chair with me on the arm, and Zuko stood by the window, gazing out into the night. We were all quiet for a long time, almost half expecting Azula and the shadow creature to come back any second for a rematch, but they never came. Suki sighed, rested her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands.

"That thing…" she whispered her voice shaky. "What was that thing?" Toph sat back against the back of the couch and frowned.

"I don't know…but whatever it was, I couldn't feel it." she said. Suki shivered and buried her face in her hands; Sokka rubbed her back slowly trying to comfort her.

"Sokka," Zuko called, not taking his gaze away from the window. "How much of that do you remember?" Sokka looked down and scrunched his eyebrows as he though about it.

"Um…well…I remember reading in my room, then I heard something so I went downstairs to see what it was, then…uh…that's all I remember." Zuko nodded his head down and there was another silence. I looked down at Aang who was holding a block of ice wrapped in cloth to his head. The wound that he received from Sokka's boomerang was deep, and even with the help of my healing abilities there was still a fairly large cut in his skin. We figured that until the injury healed completely, it would be best for Aang to not shave his head, or else it would scar pretty bad. He wasn't very happy about it when we first told him, but he didn't argue.

"Don't you think its strange," I mumbled, still looking down at Aang. "I mean, when we found Toph, she couldn't remember anything either."

No one said anything, I could tell that they knew I was right, but no one knew how to answer. Toph sighed and picked up Sokka's book that was lying on the coffee table in front of them. "Why do you think they wanted this?" she asked.

Sokka's eyes widened and he quickly snatched the book away from her. "They wanted my book?"

Suki looked up from her hands at him and nodded. "Yeah, that's what the shadow thing was trying to take before Katara stopped him." Sokka raised an eyebrow.

"Shadow thing? What did it look like?"

"It was a big…scary…shadow." I claimed, trying to remember and describe exactly what I saw; I couldn't really think of a better way to do so. Sokka opened his book, angled it to the light and turned it around so that we could see it.

"Did it look like this?" There on the page he had opened was a picture of the same thing we had seen outside with Azula.

"A Shadowbender? Those aren't real…" Suki gasped. Zuko walked over to them and bent down, giving himself a better view of the picture.

"Apparently they are. This is exactly what that thing looked like." he said before standing back up straight again.

"It makes sense." Aang spoke for the first time; I looked down at him again. "Tadanobu told us that Azula escaped with an Earth Kingdom man. But Muta told us that two Firebenders attacked Gaoling. He's been changing figures because he's a Shadowbender."

"Look at this!" Suki added, pointing down at a text in the book. "Shadowbenders have the ability to share their gift with other benders if they choose." she said looking up at us. Zuko face-palmed himself.

"Of course…I can't believe I was so blind." Toph turned her head to him.

"Nice…" she grumbled.

"That woman and man from in town," Zuko ignored her.

"The day me and Sokka got the map for Shengshu we ran into this man and woman. The woman eyes looked so familiar. It had to be Azula. He must have given her his gift." I nodded in agreement.

"That's why nobody here has seen her. She's been in disguise. She's was living here right under our noses." Suki looked at me.

"Well how are we supposed to defeat a shadowbender?" she asked, as if I knew the answer. Before I had the change to however, Sokka spoke.

"I don't know, but I bet this book will tell us." he said with a smile, slamming the book closed. "That's why they probably it, to stop us from learning their secrets."

Suki raised an eyebrow and sat up. "So, are they just going to keep trying to take it from us?" she asked worriedly. Zuko shook his head and exhaled.

"If not that, they're just going to keep trying to kill us…"

Aang stood up and dropped the ice on the chair. "Then Ba Sing Se isn't safe anymore," he stated. "We'll have to leave."


	18. Eighteen

**Chapter eighteen's up people. lol, this one was quite fun to do, I don't know why but it was. ahaha. Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have change the rating to M soon, so if this fic mysteriously dissapears from the T rating section, you know where it went. XD, enjoy. :)**

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The sudden movement of Aang pushing himself off of the chair surprised me, and I looked down to see that the only thing that was now on the chair was the cloth covered ice that he had been holding. "Then Ba Sing Se isn't safe anymore, we'll have to leave."

His voice was as serious as it could get as he said this, his tone was almost angry. But the words that he was saying made perfect sense, and to me, it was good news. It meant that he and Zuko were no longer leaving alone, just the two of them; we were all going now, so we could stay together after all.

"What about going to see the Nation's Leaders about this?" I asked, making sure that what I as thinking was reality. Aang looked back at me and our eyes locked.

"We don't have time for that now…Azula and the Shadowbender could be anywhere, or anyone. We have to focus on what we're doing. If we stayed here, there's no telling what danger it would bring to Ba Sing Se, or the Earth King." I nodded my head and tried to push away the urge to smile. This was no time to smile; the world could be in danger.

"But where are we going to go?" Toph questioned. Sokka began to violently flip through the pages of his book, finally stopping at one and pointing down at it.

"What about here?" he suggested. Suki looked down at it too, her eyes narrowing slightly to focus better.

"Yin Zhen…where's that?" Sokka faced her but his eyes continued to scan the page.

"Uh…it's on the far North-West side of the Earth Kingdom. I guess it's a hidden town somewhere by the mountains. It says here that it's where Shadowbending originated. We might learn something helpful there." he said, reading from the book. Zuko who was still standing in front of them pulled the book away from Sokka and looked down at it. On the left side of the page, there was the long text that Sokka had been reading. On the right, there was a map of the town. Zuko looked over it.

"I've never heard of this place before." he said in a hushed tone. Sokka leaned closer to him and grabbed his book back, closing it and pulling it to his chest.

"That's because it's hidden!" he shot, giving the Firebender a death glare.

"So…are we going to go there?" I asked Aang, keeping my voice quiet so that no one else would answer. Aang looked down at the ground for a minute before nodding.

"Yeah. I think that would be best."

We talked about our plans for a little bit longer before all heading back to bed, readying ourselves for the long journey ahead of us. We agreed to take off as soon as we got up the next morning; it would take around three and a half days of non-stop flying to reach Yin Zhen, but we thought it would be best for both us and Appa if we made a few rest stops. Sokka optioned out anywhere too popular because he was afraid it would be easier for Azula to find us, so we decided that the best places to stop would be Makapu Village, where we had been before, and Republic Village, a small village that was not too far from Yin Zhen itself.

Before we left however, Zuko insisted that he had too tell his Uncle that he was leaving, so while he did that the rest of us packed the essentials onto Appa. "Sokka, do you really need all the food?" I asked, watching as he struggled to push the large sack of food and drinks onto the saddle.

"Yeah…" he panted as he pushed as hard as he could. The sack was stuck on the rim of the saddle, and would not go any further, no matter how hard my brother tried to force it. All of a sudden a blast of wind swirled around us and the sack flew out of Sokka's reach, landing right inside of the saddle. We both looked around to see Aang there, smiling. Momo was perched on his shoulder.

"Looked like you needed help."

"Thanks." Sokka thanked him, flashing a quick smile. We all got on Appa and headed to the Jasmine Dragon where we picked up Zuko, then we were off.

The trip to Makapu Village seemed long, and the fact that the heat didn't let up wasn't helping. Most of the ride I sat on Appa's head along with Aang, and we just talked. Both of us knew that we were closely being supervised by my brother so we didn't dare try anything that would upset him. When we reached Makapu Village it was mid night so we set up camp in a small clearing in the woods just outside of the village.

"Does that volcano make anyone else a little uneasy about sleeping here?" Toph asked as she brought both of her hands in the air, then quickly pulled them down, making a small stone tent form in front of her. She could feel the volcanic activity working under her feet and it was making her sceptical that sleeping right at the base of the volcano was a good idea.

"It should be fine." I assured her, as I finished putting up my own tent. "We stayed here for a couple of days last year, and it exploded. We made a trench leading into the ocean and it stopped most of the lava from flooding the town. So…if it does it again it will probably just follow the trench." Toph made a face.

"Well, that _would_ be a relief…if we were sleeping in the _village_. Too bad we're in the _woods_!" Toph shook her head at me and crawled into her tent, a rock door slamming shut behind her. I stared at the spot where she had been for a minute before backing up. I planned on giving Aang a quick goodnight kiss before bed, and Sokka wasn't going to stop me. Unfortunately while I was backing up my back pressed against something hard and I stopped myself, turning my head around right away to see what I had collided with.

Standing behind me, looking down at me was Zuko, his expression worn out. "Sorry…"he mumbled, his eyes shifting away before he side stepped me and continued towards his tent. I looked at him, an eyebrow raised. I couldn't help but notice his expression, it looked hurt or worried. Something was defiantly on his mind; it was unnatural for Zuko that forlorn, it didn't seem right. I felt a hand lightly brush along my shoulder.

"You okay?" Aang asked me as I turned around. I nodded and smiled.

"Yes, I'm fine. I was actually just about to come say goodnight." I leaned into Aang and pressed my lips to his, running my tongue along them, begging for an entrance. Before he could give one however someone behind me cleared their throat and Aang pulled away from me. We both looked at our intruder; Sokka was standing there with his arms crossed, eyebrows narrowed. I sighed. "I was just saying goodnight." I defended myself. His eyes narrowed even more and he bowed his head a little.

"Well then…_say_ it." he pressed, watching us closely. I clenched my teeth and me eyes moved skyward as I thought about something I could say back to him. Nothing creative came to mind so I just chose to go with it. I looked back at Aang who had a guilty look on his face.

"Goodnight Aang." I said with a forced smile. "I'll see you in the morning." He smiled and nodded, his eyes quickly flashing towards Sokka.

"Love you…" he murmured quietly. We both turned around and he headed in the opposite direction towards his own tents. Sokka kept standing there. I gave him an aggravated look.

"I thought you said no alone time? We weren't alone!" I hissed at him. He nodded and his expressed lightened up.

"But, do you remember my rule number one? I don't want to see anything."

"Then how are we supposed to do anything? According to you, we can't do anything when we're along, and we can't do anything with you around…that doesn't seem fair."

Sokka stuck his nose in the air and started to walk past me. "There's a simple answer to that, you're not supposed to do anything, anywhere. Just be like you used to be last year. Innocent." I narrowed my eyes at him, noticing that he was not heading to his tent. I smiled smugly.

"Sokka, isn't your tent over there?" I asked, motioning my head towards his tent. Sokka froze.

"Uh…yeah…" he stumbled on his words, pivoting on his heels to face where he was supposed to go. My smile grew.

"And you say I'm not innocent…"

Sokka's face turned as red as a beet and he dashed for the door of his tent. "Go to bed Katara!"

For a day that went by so hot, the night seemed rather cold and lonely to me. I hadn't got to give Aang a proper goodnight kiss thanks to my brother, and I felt unfulfilled, which I did not like at all. The next morning when I woke up I wasn't surprised at all to find that the only one who was awake besides me was Aang, who was sitting cross-legged on a large bolder beside his tent, eyes closed and hands positioned in front of him. I smiled when I saw this, but knew better then to disturb him while meditating so I decided to find somewhere to take a nice relaxing bath. I had recalled the last time we were here passing by a stream that ran off of the mountain, and it didn't take me long at all to find it.

It was about a two minute walk from where we had set up camp, a beautiful, private spot perfect for bathing. I stood there for a minute, taking in the lovely setting of the forest before slowly undressing myself. The day was cooler then the previous two and the cool care hit my nude body hard. I shivered and laid my clothes on a rock so that they would not get dirty on the earthy ground, then I headed to the water, brining the fluffy white towel I had brought from my tent with me. I placed it just on the water's edge and stepped into the stream. The water was warm because it was running off of the volcano, and it made small bumps appear on my arms and legs. I waded further into the water, until I was up to my shoulders and relaxed.

My mind began to race as I closed my eyes and ran my hands up and down my arms, feeling the smoothness of my own skin. The warmth reminded me of when Aang would hold me; his skin was always warm, probably because part of him was a firebender. I sighed as I thought about him and gripped my upper arms. When and if he ever agreed to intimacy, which I knew he someday would, I wondered what his warm touch would feel like on somewhere other then the areas he had already explored. Aang had never touched me anywhere he deemed inappropriate, which included area's covered by undergarments, though I often wished he would, and he had never kissed me past my collarbone. I knew he was only thirteen, with no experience what so ever, but he was mature for his age and seemed pretty good at the things he did to me. He needed to loosen up.

Just then I heard a small crack from behind me and I spun around in the water, ducking further in on reflex, so that the water was up to my chin. I also threw my arms around my chest, covering my breasts that were already hidden by the water. Standing by a tree with his arm outstretched was Aang, gawking horrified at me, he face crimson. For a minute we just awkwardly stared at each other, but then Aang sprung backwards, hitting a tree square on and covered his eyes with his hands. "Katara, I'm so, so, so sorry! I didn't see anything, I swear!"

I smiled in embarrassment, feeling my face grow hot. "It's okay Aang…" I reassured him that I didn't care. Aang continued to clench his face in his hands, refusing to look at me.

"I was just coming to get my staff, I forgot it when I was here earlier. I promise I didn't see…anything." I looked beside him and sure enough, lying up against a tree was his staff, I mentally kicked myself for not noticing it before. I quickly advanced myself over to the shore, knowing that was not looking and stood up, wrapping my towel securely around me.

"Aang, it's okay. If you said you didn't see anything then I believe you." I said, walking over to him. I stopped when I was just in front of him and inhaled deeply, it was no or never. "But…I really wouldn't mind if you had." One of Aang's hands dropped slightly and he peered at me, confusion swimming in the smoky iris.

"You…you wouldn't?" he asked, dropping the other hand as well. He continued to look at my face, which I respected fully, he really was a gentleman, or…he really was terrified of Sokka and his boomerang. I smiled.

"Of course not." I cooed before raising one of my hands and running it slowly down his tunic covered chest.

Now, Aang's eyes traveled down the length of my body, examining the glimmer of the excess water droplets on my mocha tone skin. I watched carefully as he swallowed, clearly enjoying my appearance, but then he turned his head.

"Well, I should probably go…" he mumbled, turning away from me and picking up his staff. I stood there, my hand still hovering in the air. "If Sokka wakes up and see's that we're both not there, he'll…"

"Forget about Sokka!" I growled, stomping my foot on the ground. Aang looked down at it, shocked, then looked back at my face. "Why can't you just stay with me for once? Look, I'm practically ready now, I want to do this!" I tugged lightly on the bottom of my towel so that it would not fall, reminding him that it was my only source of clothing at the moment. Then I pointed my index finger at him. He went cross-eyed for a minute while trying to look at it. "And don't even try telling me you don't, because we both know that would be a lie!"

Aang blushed again and looked to the side. "Katara…I can't…" My eyes narrowed and I dropped my hand, crossing my arms over my chest.

"No, you can…you just won't!" I huffed; realising that I had lost this argument. Aang took a step backwards, and there was a short pause.

"I'll let you get dressed…" he said finally, clutching his staff in his hands. "I'll see you back camp."

With that he turned around and hurried back towards our tents. I watched after him until he disappeared amongst the trees, and then grabbed my head in frustration. I growled to myself, upset that my attempts where getting me nowhere fast.

Would he ever come around? I was beginning to doubt that he would. He was stubborn, I had always known that, but so was I…and I wasn't about to give up anytime soon.


	19. Nineteen

**Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I was quite busy the last week. :P Anyway, its up now so its all good. Enjoy****

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Aang hurried as fast as he could away from the stream, pushing his feet to go two times the normal speed they usually would. When he was far enough away he ducked behind a tree and pressed his back against it, inhaling deeply. The image of Katara wrapped lightly in the short white towel was stuck in his head and seemed like it didn't have any intentions of coming out. The way she had looked at him through long lidded eyelashes, the way the water made her tanned body look even more flawless then it was already was, and the thought that under the towel she had no clothing on what so ever. If he had just said yes to her, and agreed to have sex right then and there, he could have seen the rest of her body; her breasts, her…

Aang dropped his staff and slapped his hands over his eyes before slowly dragging them down his face. "What am I thinking…" he mumbled to himself, frustrated that he was letting himself think these vulgar thoughts about Katara, his best friend since he had escaped the iceberg. But that was just it, she wasn't only his best friend anymore, she was his _girlfriend,_ he could think about her that way if he wanted too. For some reason though, he felt extremely guilty whenever he did.

Aang sighed and looked around the forest. Through the tree's he could see the six tents that belonged to him and his friends; no one seemed to be up yet, which was a good thing. He had the time to make it back without being noticed and either go back to meditating or try to go back to sleep. The meditation option would probably be the better one, he figured; it would give him time to calm down his mind. Aang bent down and picked up his staff, suddenly noticing that his pants were unusually tight and uncomfortable. "Great…"

He scrunched his eyebrows together as he thought about what he was going to do. Whenever this would happen it would usually take at least ten minutes to go away on its own, unless of course, he were to help it along, but he wasn't about to do that, especially when he was stuck between staying out in the woods and being blamed for disappearing with Katara, or going back to camp and doing the job with everyone else in ear shot. He sighed again; deciding that he should probably just wait it out, it wouldn't be that bad. So with that he started slowly towards the camp.

* * *

SLAP!

The sound echoed through the small Earth Kingdom tavern and everyone looked around at the woman and man who were sitting at a table in the back of the room. The woman was thin and had short chestnut hair. She was standing up from her seat ,her right hand raised to her left side, as if she were about to backhand something, and her topaz eyes were narrowed at the man. He was a lanky man, black buzzed hair, pale greyish skin. His hand was cupping his cheek which was slightly pink from the recent strike he had received from the woman.

Azula straightened herself up, put her arm down and looked around the tavern at the other customers. As soon as they looked away and went back to their own businesses she sat back down, her face placid. Longwei's eyes shifted in her direction, but he continued to stair off to the side, still cradling his cheek. "I'm sorry princess…" he uttered an apology. He had told Azula that while in the Avatar's estate he had dropped a picture, waking the Water Tribe boy and giving away their positions. Azula put all blame on him for this and got quite angry. They hadn't said a word to each other until they got new disguises and rested here in the tavern, just outside Ba Sing Se's inner wall. Azula smirked at him.

"You're sorry?" she asked. He nodded. "If it wasn't for you and your carelessness, my brother and the Avatar would not have woken up and the bison would be dead! Do you know how much easier it would be for us if they didn't have a flying bison to take them everywhere?" Longwei finally dropped his hand and looked at her straight on. He knew she was right, but there was no use agreeing with her when she was like this. The last time he had done that she had cracked him one. When he didn't say anything Azula merely shrugged. "No matter, what's done is done. They're gone now and we have no idea where they went."

"Actually princess, I might have an idea." Azula raised an eyebrow at him and folded her hands on top of the table, waiting for him to continue. "The book that I wanted, the one that Water Tribe boy had, is full of our…Shadowbender secrets. It tells all of the locations where we can be found and such. They're probably going to look for more information." he explained. She made a face.

"Well…where are all of the places you can be found?"

"There are four caves in the Earth Kingdom, one on each point, North, West, South and East. The main one however is in a small town just past Republic Village. They're probably headed there." Azula looked down at the table as she thought about what he was saying. It made perfect sense, if they had this book they would defiantly know about Shadowbending; she knew Zuko was smart, and the others were probably equally as bright, they would have figured out that she could now Shadowbend as well. They were going to try to stop her. "May I ask you something?" Longwei asked in a somewhat hushed tone. He leaned himself further over the table so that he was closer to Azula, she looked at him.

"Yes…?" she answered a bit unsure of his tone.

"Why didn't you kill them, the Avatar and your brother? Why didn't you?" Azula slung an arm over the back of her chair and leaned back, her expression unreadable, her eyes locked into her partners.

"Because, I don't want them dead…not now. When my brother destroyed my life he took away everything that I had, the Avatar did the same for my father. So now…I want them to feel the same way. I'm going to take away everything they have…everything they need. I'm going to tare their lives apart…one small detail at a time." Longwei broke the gaze with her and looked down at the table. The people around them were being loud, laughing talking, arguing. It was all beginning to scratch on his brain. He closed his eyes as he tried to concentrate on what Azula was saying.

"So…is it just the Avatar and the Fire Lor…your brother you are targeting?" he asked, closing his eyes even tighter. Azula cocked an eyebrow but before she could say anything he continued. "I mean…what about the others. The Earth Kingdom girls? The Water Tribe boy, or…his sister?" Longwei's black eyes opened sharply at this, a slight hungry gleam in them. Azula continued to stair confused at him.

"If they get in the way, I will deal with them. But no…I am not targeting them. Why? Do you have your eye on them?" He shook his head.

"No…I was just wondering."

"You can do what you want with them you know; I have no use for them." Longwei stayed quiet for a minute before bowing his head. Azula leered. "You have your eye on them…or…one of them…don't you?" she asked slyly. Longwei beamed back at her but said nothing. After a minute of silence Azula sighed. "I suppose it's none of my business. Anyway, we need to find a way to get to…where are we going again?"

"Yin Zhen."

"Right. We're going to have to find a way to get to Yin Zhen, fast. Any ideas?" The two looked at each other, pondering how they were going to get to Yin Zhen within the next few days. Just then a man who was sitting at the bar table with a few others stumbled up out of his seat, slamming his mug back down on the table. He was a big man, very strong looking and quite handsome.

"Well…I'm o-out of here…" he said slurring his words. Azula and Longwei looked over at him, Azula half amused at how drunk he was. One of the other men began to laugh.

"You're leaving already?" he said. The drunken man laughed.

"Yeah, I gotta…I gotta get that shipment to Republic City before Monday…" The other man laughed again.

"But that's three days from now, you'll never do it." The drunken man narrowed his eyes at him and began to back away from the table.

"I'll have you know that my snake-oxen are the fastest in Outer Ba Sing Se. I'll get there." As the man turned and headed towards the tavern's door Azula smiled.

"Feel like getting a new disguise?" she asked Longwei without looking at him. He looked back after the man, watching as he fell out of the door.

* * *

Up until late afternoon, Suki and I went into Makapu village to pay a visit to Aunt Wu, the fortune teller. Suki was determined to find out how far her and Sokka's love life was going to go, and when she was told that she was going to get married and have a child within the next five years she was thrilled. "Oh, I wonder if it's going to be a girl…or a boy." Suki said excitedly as we stood outside of Aunt Wu's house. She clasped her hands together and looked skyward, as if she was praying. "Oh I hope it's a girl. Not that I'd be disappointed if it was a boy, just…a girl seems so much more fun." I smiled at her enthusiasm on the subject, and wondered if Sokka would want the same thing. He would probably want the complete opposite knowing him, a boy. Suki looked down at me when she noticed I was being quiet and dropped her hands. "Don't you want your fortune told?" she asked. I shook my head.

"No. I've already had Aunt Wu tell me my fortune the last time we were here. I doubt any of it changed. It's been pretty spot on so far." Suki's lips twisted into a smile.

"So you knew you were going to fall for Aang all along?" I shook my head.

"Well no. She told me that I was going to fall in love with and marry a powerful bender. That could have been anyone, how was I supposed to know it was the Avatar?" It was true, at the time I had no idea Aunt Wu had meant I was going to be with Aang, of course Sokka had mentioned something about it, but I just thought it was a coincidence.

"So, you guys are for sure going to get married then? Big surprise there." I blushed when she said this. I hadn't really thought that much about it but Aang and I were defiantly going to get married some day, have a family. I blushed even deeper when I thought about this and shook my head.

"Yeah…" I chuckled awkwardly. We began to walk down the cobblestone street back towards the woods, passing the large white houses and friendly looking villagers as we went.

"And that might be sooner then later. Your birthdays in a few days Katara, you're going to be fifteen. Water Tribe traditions say you can marry when you're sixteen, right? That's only in one year."

"Yes, that is right. But I don't know about Air Nomad tradition. You might need to be older. Aang's two year's younger then me remember, so when I'm sixteen he's still only going to be fourteen." Suki frowned.

"Oh yeah. Well that sucks."

"I don't mind. Just being able to be with him is enough for me. Marriage is just a title…you can be just as close without it." Suki side glanced me and raised her eyebrows.

"Wow…" she murmured. I looked up at her.

"What?"

"Nothing…it's just. You seem so…I don't know…confident. Like you've been in love with him for your whole life or something…not just a year. You know what you're doing." Suki said, her tone surprised and impressed. I thought about it, but I didn't fully understand what she was saying.

"Er…he told me that we share a spiritual bond…or something like that. Maybe that's why." Suki nodded.

"Yeah, maybe."

We stopped at a small food stand for something to eat and got some zongzi, then we headed to a stone picnic table and sat down. I chewed slowly on my food, staring blankly off into space. Suki did the same, only she ate more quickly. When I noticed she was done I turned my attention to her and laid my half eaten dumpling on the table. "Can I talk to you about something?" I asked quietly, asking myself over and over again if this was a good idea in my head. Suki folded her arms on the table.

"Of course." I didn't say anything, instead I looked away uncomfortably. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Suki noticed my sudden expression change and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Katara…what's wrong? You know you can talk to me about anything. I have your back." My eyes shifted back to her and I swallowed.

"You have to promise you won't tell anyone, especially Sokka." Suki raised an eyebrow.

"Okay…?" I took a deep breath and hesitated for a few seconds before looking down at the table.

"Okay, well…for the past few days I've been…trying to…seduce Aang every chance I get. But no matter what I do…he won't give in." I looked back at Suki who was just gaping at my dumbfounded. She blinked.

"You've been trying to…s-seduce him?" she asked weakly. I chose to ignore her concerned tone and continued.

"Yes. But every time he goes off on this rant on how Sokka would kill us and how we're too young."

"Well…you kind of are too young." Suki told me. I noticed that she was no longer catching eye contact with me, her eyes were everywhere except mine. I frowned.

"I thought you said you have my back?" I hissed, defensively. Suki closed her eyes.

"Right, right…sorry. Continue."

"Anyway, I know he wants to do it just as much as I do, but he's too scared of what Sokka would say, or do. It's holding him back." After I said this Suki chuckled.

"He probably should be scared." I gave her a look.

"It's just frustrating…" I sighed dropping my head. There was a short pause before Suki cleared her throat.

"Katara, girls have their simple needs. And when you're a teenager it sometimes feels like those needs are the most important thing in your life. But sometimes it's best to push them aside." My head stayed slumped down. I didn't want to hear this. I knew Suki would say something like this but I was just hoping she would see things my way and help me with this. But no, she does the responsible thing and tells me its not a good idea.

"Well…" she continued her voice now shaky. I looked up at her to see a blush was now washed over her face. "I guess since I know this…I should probably…umm…" As soon as I understood what she was saying I shook my head violently.

"Don't worry, you don't have to. My grandmother gave me "the talk" a long time ago." Suki let out a sigh a relief and smiled.

"Well, that's a load off my mind." she chimed. I forced a smile and picked up my zongzi, taking another bite. "And don't worry," she said. "I won't tell Sokka."


	20. Twenty

**Alright, sorry I haven't been posting chapters as quick as I normaly do. I've been kind of busy the past two weeks. Alright, this chapter is kind of bad because I did it in like...an hour trying to finish it so I could post it. So I apologize in advance. But I'm going to try to work really hard on the next chapter, so hopefully it will be longer then the others, and better. Ahha, alright enjoy and comment. :)**

* * *

"What's taking them so long? They told me they were only going to be gone for an hour or two; they should be back by now!" Sokka wined as he pulled down his tent and balled it up in his arms. While Katara and Suki went into town to visit Aunt Wu, Zuko, Sokka, Toph and Aang decided to stay and take down camp to get ready to continue on their journey. Zuko who was throwing his own tent on Appa's saddle looked over his shoulder at him.

"Would you relax Sokka," Toph started as she leaned her back against a nearby tree and crossed her arms. "They'll be back soon, it's not like they took off." Sokka walked over to Zuko and pushed his tent roughly into him. At first Zuko looked a little confused, but then it clicked in that Sokka wanted him to load it on the saddle and he wrapped his arms around it. Sokka backed up and faced Toph's direction.

"Well, we're kind of in a hurry. Azula and that shadowbender guy could be right on our tail for all we know. It's dangerous for us to stay in one place for too long. And plus, I really want to get to Republic Village. Zuko said he was there while he was looking for his mom and it was a really nice place. Right Zuko?" Zuko finished putting Sokka's tent on Appa's saddle and looked back at him with an irritated, hurt look. Sokka immediately realised his mistake and frowned. "Sorry Zuko…I didn't mean to…" he started, his tone uncomfortable. Before he could get any further in his apology however, Zuko looked down.

"It's okay Sokka. It doesn't matter…" The two boys continued to stand there; both of them looking awkwardly down at the ground, and about one full minute of silence went by. Finally, Aang who was sitting on the same rock he had been meditating on earlier, spoke.

"Listen to this guys…" he said, looking down at Sokka's book which was resting in his lap. One of his hands were holding the book open to a page that he had been reading, while the other was holding a small open flame so that the words could be seen. He had been closely studying different facts on Shadowbending and Shadowbender's for about an hour now and had already enlightened the others about everything that he found _very_ interesting. So far there were the facts that;

_Very rarely did Shadowbenders come to the surface world, the last time they had been seen was about 60 BSC. _

_Shadowbenders only weakness was light. _

_When they are in their shadow form, they can solidly touch you, but if you tried to touch them you would go right through them. _

And now there was this. "It says here that if a Shadowbender holds a gaze with you for more then three seconds, it'll take control of your soul." Aang looked up from the book, his expression somewhere between impressed and shocked. "Isn't that interesting?"

"Yeah, that's interesting." Toph said sarcastically before turning her head back to Sokka's direction. "Why do you want to get to Republic Village so bad?" Sokka raised an eyebrow at her.

"I already told you, Zuko said it was a nice place. And I'm staring to look for places that I would consider moving too in the future…you know…in case Suki can't get used to the South Pole." The minute Sokka said this; Toph scowled and looked away, her eyebrows scrunched together. Zuko walked over to the remaining unpacked supplies and picked them up before he started back over to Appa.

"Isn't it a little early in your relationship to be thinking about that?" he asked, tossing it with the rest of their stuff. They were finally finished packing up, the only thing they were waiting on now was Suki and Katara, as soon as they got back they'd be ready to leave. Aang looked at Sokka also; he seemed a tad bit interested in the subject.

"No, it's not. I love Suki, she loves me. We've…we're pretty serious. And I'm talking about the future." Sokka said sticking his nose in the air and closing his eyes, snidely. After a few seconds he reopened one eye and looked at Zuko. "Don't try to tell me you and Mai have never thought about that kind of stuff." Zuko blinked at the defensive seriousness in Sokka's tone.

"Mai and I have been together since we were nine, Sokka." was all he said in reply. Sokka frowned and lowered his head, opening both of his eyes.

"Oh well," he started, suddenly turning his gaze to Aang and his mouth opened as if he was about to say something. Aang froze as their eyes locked. Sokka was not going to ask him about his relationship with Katara, was he? And if so, what was Aang supposed to say, the truth and risk being punched?_ Yeah I've thought about movie in with her, actually when this whole Azula problem is over with we are moving in together. _That would go over with a bang. Luckily before Aang got to say anything, Sokka made a reconsidering shrug and turned back to Zuko. "It's still the same thing. Love, is love. Anyway, I'm going to see if they're coming." Sokka began to walk towards the direction of the village, finally vanishing through the trees. As soon as he could no longer be seen Toph snorted out a laugh.

"Love is love? Does he realise how much of a hypocrite he is? I mean…what do you think about that Twinkle-Toes?" she asked. Aang closed the book and laid it on the forest ground beside him, a faint blush washing over his cheeks.

"Er…I dunno. I don't really mind." Once again, Toph snorted.

"It just doesn't make sense to me…"

Both Zuko and Aang gawked at Toph for a minute, Aang looking slightly confused where as Zuko looked sympathetic. "Well…I'm going to go…uh, go catch up to Sokka." Zuko said, turning away from the situation to follow Sokka. Aang jumped to feet, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Zuko, wait…" he called, stopping the Fire Lord in his tracks. Zuko looked at him. Aang felt himself immensely nervous while he readied himself to do what he was about to do. How am _I going to word this…? _He ran through his mind over and over again, trying to think as hard as he could how to bring this topic up with the older boy. He had been meaning to talk to Zuko all day, but never found the time to actually do so. He figured now was as good a time as ever now that Sokka was gone. "Uh…" Aang began to scratch the back of his neck. This was going to be awkward, there was no getting around that, and this was Zuko, the strict, serious Fire Lord who had so much more important things to do with his time other then to give a thirteen year old advise on having sex. But he defiantly couldn't go to Sokka, the only other boy in their group, so Zuko was his only option. Aang swallowed, trying to force his nervousness down his throat and dropped his hand to his side.

"What is it?" Zuko asked, sounding impatient. Aang's eyes moved to Toph who was still standing by the tree. There was no way he could say this while she was standing there.

"Can we um…talk? Alone…" he asked, he could already feel the blush deepening on his cheeks. Toph huffed and pushed herself away from the tree.

"Fine, I get it. Guy talk. Great. I'll just go for a quick walk. Momo, you want to come?" Momo who was lying on the ground beside Appa, cleaning himself gurgled a response and ran over to Toph, climbing his way up to her shoulder. "Have a nice talk." Toph said, before she too went off into the woods. Zuko crossed his arms at Aang.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"I need you're advise on something."

"Advise?" Zuko raised an eyebrow as Aang nodded slowly.

"Yeah, I really need some…guy advice right now." Aang found that his mouth was becoming very dry, very fast. This was probably the most nervous he had ever been in his life. Zuko nodded, he seemed to understand where Aang was going and he motioned his head to the large rock.

"Do you want to sit down?" he asked quietly. Aang nodded his head again and turned around to sit down on the rock; Zuko came over and did the same. There was yet another silence as the two boys just stared at the ground.

"So," they started in unison. Aang's face flushed and he looked away. Zuko cleared his throat.

"So…do you…want to know about-"

"Girls. Well…more like…what we do with…girls…" Aang interrupted his voice weakening as he went. Zuko swallowed.

"Alright. Questions?"

"Well it's just," Aang started, having to force his words out.

"Just…" Zuko pressed when he said nothing else. Aang took a deep breath and tried to relax himself. Would Zuko tell Sokka after this? It would be the responsible thing to do, Aang and Katara were only kids after all.

"Okay, lets be men about this." Aang pleaded quietly. Zuko snickered.

"I consider myself a man." he said smugly. Aang ignored.

"What I mean is…we have each other's backs right? So please don't tell Sokka about this, he'd kill me." Zuko shrugged.

"Okay, deal."

"So I should probably start."

"Probably, Sokka will be back soon." Aang closed his eyes tightly for a minute before opening them again.

"Okay, so…Katara really wants to…do it okay? But every time she tries to get me to agree to it, I chicken out and nothing happens. But its not like I don't want to do it, I just don't know what to do. I mean we're only kids right…well teenagers, but…are we supposed to do that kind of stuff? I just don't know if I can hold back anymore, it keeps getting harder and harder, every time. So what should I do? You and Mai have done it before, haven't you?"

It all came out so fast Zuko had to stay quiet for a minute to let everything the airbender had said process in his mind. Yes, he had figured Aang wanted to know something about his relationship with Katara, but he had no idea he wanted to know about going all the way. It just wasn't right for a thirteen and a fifteen year old, and frankly Zuko did not want to picture it, but now for some reason it was the only thing running through his brain. He closed his eyes and tried to picture something else, something less…disturbing. "Um…" was all he could say. "Well, I guess you…er…do what…feels right…?" he said, quite unsure of what to really tell him. Zuko himself was embarrassed about this conversation, so he could imagine what Aang was feeling. Aang looked into his golden eyes.

"But what if…what if I hurt her or something? Have you ever hurt Mai?" Zuko's face turned red instantly and he flinched, narrowing his.

"What! I don't know, that's weird!" he snapped, the last thing he wanted right now was to bring his and Mai's sex life into this. Aang frowned.

"S-sorry… I just don't know what to tell her."

"If you don't want to do it Aang, then just don't! It's as simple as that!" Zuko told him, his face going back to it's natural color.

"Yeah, but…she wants to do it, and it…feels good…right?" Aang could not believe these words were coming out of his mouth, he was so embarrassed. Zuko began to rub the back of his neck uncomfortably.

"Aang…you don't really plan these things…they just kind of happen _when you're ready_. You just…follow your heart, I guess. You love Katara as much as a kid can love someone, and she feels the same. So I'm sure she'll understand if you just tell her _no_. Just tell her the truth, that you're scared."

"I'm not scared!" Aang lied through his teeth, getting defensive. Zuko nodded.

"Oh, okay…" Aang looked down.

"So, have you hurt Mai?" Zuko blinked. This kid would just not give up.

"Look, we both wanted it. She was happy so she didn't mind. Every girl gets hurt the first time, so you're just going to have to live with that!" Aang felt and looked a bit concerned about this now. It hurt every girl? He didn't want to put Katara through any pain, no matter if she wanted it or not.

"And how do I…you know…know where to put-"

"OKAY!" Zuko cried, throwing his hands up and jumping to his feet. "You know what, if you decide to go through with it, you'll just…you'll find out. Just follow your instincts and you'll be fine. So," Zuko started pointing to the direction Sokka went. "I'm going to go find Sokka, you can come if you want. Or if you want some time along that's cool too." Aang took a deep breath.

"Thanks Zuko. I think I'll stay here." Zuko bowed his head.

"Alright. Sounds good. You'll be fine." Zuko turned around sharply and walked as fast as he could away from the camp. All he could think about was how Aang had come all the way from being a little goofy kid, to wanting this. And for some reason, in the very back of his mind, he couldn't believe that Katara wanted it too.

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**Over 100 reviews and 20 chapters. Oh my gosh, I have never gotten this far on a story before. I just wanted to thank all of you guys for the support. Because I'm sure if I didn't get as many reviews as this, I would have stopped long ago. So thank you all. :)**


	21. Twenty One

**Well...summers coming to an end, sadly. lol. Man it went by fast. Anyway another chapter's up. The whole idea of this chapter I was on and off about doing it. One day I was like, yeah I'm gonna put that in, but then I had second thoughts about it. Well, I did put it in as you will read and I'm hoping it will turn out okay. Please give me your opinions on it lol, opinions help. Ahha, alright. Enjoy this chapter and the rest of your summer. :)**

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Suki and I were just nearing the brim of the forest when we saw Sokka marching over to us, his hands balled into fists. He was upset with us for being longer then we had told him we were going to be, but seemed to lighten up when Suki told him the news of her fortune. "That's great!" he exclaimed, picking her up around her waist and spinning around in a circle. I smiled watching as he placed her back on the ground and they kissed. Their enthusiasm for the fact that they were going to get married and have a child was more then I had expected, especially from Sokka. I was thinking that he would at least faint.

Not five minutes went by of standing there; Zuko came along, his face flushed. I had figured he was just tired from rushing through the woods at first, but more I looked at him the more I saw that there was something off in his expression. Sokka looked at him, a large smile still plastered to his face. "Zuko!" he shouted excitedly. Zuko cocked an eyebrow at him as he strolled over and slung an arm around his shoulders. "I'm going to be a dad! Isn't that great news?" Zuko's face flushed a little bit more as he looked from Sokka to Suki, and for a split second it looked like he was going to be sick.

"You're pregnant?" he asked. Suki blushed and shook her head, Sokka did the same.

"No! Not yet. Within the next five years!"

"I thought you didn't believe in getting your fortune told, Sokka?" I questioned, crossing my arms over my chest and smiling smugly. Everyone looked at me, Suki looked a bit hurt.

"I never said that." Sokka shot at me, dropping his arm from around Zuko. I thought it best not to argue and get Suki upset, so I just rolled my eyes and dropped the subject. Zuko straightened up.

"Well, now that we're all here, don't you think its best to get a move on?" he suggested. We all agreed and headed back to camp, where Aang and Toph were both waiting for us. Since everything was already packed onto Appa we could leave right away, and that's exactly what we did. Flying to Republic Village was nice, quite, and peaceful, the scenery was lovely. We stayed on the water's edge the whole time so we got a great view of both the green recovering land and the vast blue ocean.

"So Katara, what do you want for your birthday?" Sokka asked me as he leaned his back on the rim of Appa's saddle. I looked at him, or at least tried to look at him, the wind was blowing my hair across my face so that my vision was not at all the best. I raised my hand and pushed my hair back, tucking it behind my ears.

"When's your birthday?" Toph asked. Before I could answer, Sokka turned to her.

"In two days. She's going to be _fifteen_."

"Wow," Toph raised her eyebrows, impressed. "Fifteen."

"They grow up fast." Suki said, casting me a sweet smile. I smiled back, though Sokka's unnecessarily loud sigh caused me to drop it.

"Don't remind me! Growing up's depressing."

"How is it depressing? Growing up's great! You get to do so many more things you couldn't when you were a kid." Toph said. Sokka looked at me, his expression bitter.

"Exactly."

If it hadn't been for the vivid smell of fried foods and the bright florescent lights dancing above the treetops, we would have flown right by Republic Village. It was a small town, hidden amongst the trees. The mountains were clearly visible from it, which was a fair sign that we were getting close to Yin Zhen. We landed Appa outside of the town, just as we had done in Makapu Village, and once again set up camp. When we were finished we decided to look around town for a bit and all headed out. As we got closer, the smell of food got much stronger and flooded my nostrils. Sokka sniffed the air. "Mmm, that smells delicious." he cooed, his tongue hanging slightly out of the corner of his mouth.

"It does smell pretty good, do you think there's a festival or something?" Suki wondered aloud. The minute we got to the entrance of the town, we all knew what the answer was. Dozens among dozens of villagers were standing there, waving noise makers, decorations, throwing confetti. Food stands were set up along the whole street, and brightly coloured lanterns hung from each house and shop.

"Welcome Avatar!" everyone cheered. I looked at Aang who was standing beside me; he looked just as surprised as the rest of us. A stumpy man from the front of the crowd walked over to us, his long purple robes dragging on the ground.

"Welcome to Republic Village, Avatar Aang." he announced with a smile, his green eyes staring right at Aang. I looked at him. For a man in about his forties he seemed rather short, about mine and Aang's height, he was rather round particularly in the stomach area, and his short brown hair was slicked back with grease. Not very attractive. He then moved his gaze down the line. "And you must be Lady Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, Warrior Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe, Warrior Suki of Kyoshi Island, Fire Lord Zuko of the Fire Nation, Toph Bei Fong of the Bei Fong family. And you," He stopped and smiled at small lemur that was perched on Toph's shoulder. "You're Momo." Momo made a loud excited sound and leaned his head to the side, staring back at the man. "Welcome all."

Aang swallowed and raised an eyebrow at the man. "Uh…not to be rude or anything, but…who are you?" he asked quietly. The man chuckled and looked back at him.

"I'm sorry; I guess I should properly introduce myself. I am Gonzo, Mayor of this town." he said. Sokka burst out into a small laughing fit and we all looked at him.

"Sorry…" he muttered covering his mouth with his hand to hide his laughter. There was a short pause. Finally Zuko turned back to the man.

"Whats with all of this?" he asked, motioning to the crowd of people, decorations and food. Gonzo smiled and turned around to face his village.

"Well, we were celebrating the end of the one hundred year war, when all of a sudden I saw the Avatar's bison coming straight this way. Of course we turned our small celebration into a festival in your honour." He looked back at Aang. "For the rest of today and all of tomorrow there will be food, activities, and get together. Tomorrow we are even going to prepare a great feast for dinner and a ball afterwards."

My heart skipped. A ball? There was going to be dancing. I would once again get the chance to dance with Aang, but this time it was going to be easier because we were now together. "I'm sorry, but we can't stay tomorrow. We only landed for the night." Aang apologised. Gonzo's face fell, as did my excitement.

"Come on Aang," Sokka said, reaching in front of me to shake Aang's shoulder. "I'm sure one day won't make a difference. They're having a_ feast_ in our honour." Toph smirked.

"What happened to '_we're in hurry, Azula and that shadowbender guy could be right on our tail, it's dangerous to stay in one place for too long'_?" she said, deepening her voice to imitate Sokka's. Sokka quickly cast her a look.

"Shh!" he shushed her before turning back to Aang. "Please Aang. A feast."

"Yeah," I began in a mumble. "And I wouldn't mind going to that ball either." Aang looked at me for a few seconds before sighing in defeat.

"Fine. We'll stay."

"Excellent." Gonzo clasped his hands together and smiled again. "Then it's settled. I will find you all sleeping arraignments and you will stay here for two nights." Aang shook his head.

"That won't be necessary. We've already set up camp in the woods."

"Nonsense! I will not allow the hero's of our world to sleep in tents in the woods. I will find you sleeping arraignments and you will sleep there. Moving on. Tomorrow I will schedule a guided spa and shopping day for the girls. A guided shopping and sports day for the boys, Republic Village has a fine Earth Rumble Stadium, its small but it's decent. And grooming day for the animals." We all looked at each other and smiled. It did sound nice, a day at the spa and shopping, I wasn't going to complain. "And then when you're all finished, you can go back to the inn, get ready and come to the feast. Then to the ball." Aang frowned, he still didn't seem very sold on the idea of all this, but maybe because he was just getting sick of all of these parties and feasts he kept getting invited to.

Gonzo snapped his fingers and small boy, who looked like he was a little bit younger then Toph ran over from the crowd, his shaggy black hair waving back as he ran. "Go into the woods and take down the Avatar and his friends tents, then bring them to the Heping Inn. And don't forget to bring the bison as well." Gonzo instructed him. The boy bowed his head and backed away towards the woods. Since the sun was setting I wondered if it was going to be hard for him to find our things, the woods did tent to get pretty dark in the night. Gonzo didn't seem concerned about it at all though, as he made his way through the crowd of people. We followed close behind him, each person in the crowd saying some sort of thank you to us as we passed. The town was indeed very nice, the street was clean, the houses and shops were well taken care of, and the people were all so friendly. As we walked I felt Aang's hand slip into mine and I looked down, surprised. I had figured Aang to be still upset with me for what happened earlier in the stream, but he had seemed to have forgotten all about it. I looked back up to his face; he was smiling back at me, I smiled as well. At the end of the street we stopped at a large white house, about three stories tall, the sign that was hanging from the top of the door read "Heping Inn" in large green letters. Gonzo opened the door for us and nodded for us to go inside, we did.

The inside of the house was just as nice as the outside. We walked into a large lobby of sorts where the front desk was. Three doors were heading off in different directions and straight ahead of us was a large staircase. Two girls in white and green kimonos were standing on either side of the desk, their hands folded together in front of them, their expressions happy. They bowed letting their long black hair fall off their shoulders. "Welcome to the Heping Inn." the said in unison, standing back up. I shivered, the sound of their monotone voices working together was a little eerie I had to admit. When I got a good look at their faces I realised that they were twins, they both had the same shaped face, and the same deep brown eyes.

"It is an honour-" the one on the right hand side began.

"To have both the Fire Lord and the Avatar here at our small inn." the other finished. Aang nodded his head and let go of my hand.

"It is an honour to be here." he said to them. They both looked at each other and giggled, each of them handing one hand in front of their mouths to hide the smiles.

"Kids, this is Jia and Jie," Gonzo said, closing the door behind him as he walked inside behind us. "Their mother owns this inn; sadly however she is quite ill at the moment and has been bedridden for days." Jia and Jie continued to smile as they looked at the mayor, their eyes gleaming in the dim illumination that came from a few candles that were hanging from the wall behind large paper sconces. Gonzo cleared his throat, clearly turning uncomfortable with the lifeless glare he was receiving and changed the subject. "The Avatar and his friends would like a few rooms for two nights. Do you think you can manage that?"

"Would two rooms be alright?" the girls asked, turning their gaze to Aang. To me it almost seemed like they moved as one, every thing was completely mirrored, almost like their movements had been rehearsed. It was very odd.

Aang nodded his head slowly once more. "I don't see a problem with that. One for the girls…one for the boys, sounds good." he answered them quietly. Sokka smiled.

"Yup! That sounds great to me!" he agreed loudly.

After that Gonzo told us what time we had to be ready for the next day of, as Sokka liked to call it "_royal treatment_", then left us with Jia and Jie. They took us upstairs and showed us our room. The girl's room wasn't very big but it would do in a pinch. There were two beds, a bunk bed and a single bed, and a dresser where we could put our clothes when the boy arrived back with them. On top of the dresser were a small lamp and an old picture of the inn. A small girl with two black braids of hair was standing in front of the inn, smiling. I guessed she was the twin's mother when she was younger. There was also a window in the room, looking off at a large river that ran through the earth just behind the inn.

"Well, pleasant dreams." the twins said as they shut our door and left us too our selves, heading off to show the boys to their room.

"I call the bottom bunk!" Toph shouted as soon as the door clicked shut. Suki and I looked at her, our eyebrows raised. "What?" she asked when nothing more was said. "I hate sleeping on the top bunk. What if I fall off?"

Later on, after the boy brought us our clothes and we were all ready for s good night sleep we turned off the light and all got into bed, Toph on the bottom bunk of the bunk beds, Suki on the top, and I had the single bed. "I can't wait for tomorrow." I muttered into the darkness, resting my chin on my pillow. Because of the window the moon light was casting a little bit of light into the room, but it was still very shadowed.

"Me either," Suki voiced back to me. "It'll be fun. I've never been to a ball before."

"Meh, they're nothing special." Toph huffed. I looked over at her and could see that she was laying on her back, her arms resting behind her head.

"You've been to one before?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Yeah," she said in a "_you didn't know that_" sort of tone. "I've been to a few. After my nineth birthday my parent hosted one every year." Suki and I stayed quiet as we listened to Toph sigh a very long hurt sigh. "Of course dancing was never really my specialty. Every date I ever had ran away screaming before the night was even over. My parents would always get mad at me." Toph snickered to herself, remembering her parents. "But…my mom, she would try to teach me some things about dancing, it would never work. She'd always end up getting frustrated and leave. She wasn't the best dancing though either, my dad always told me she's step on his feet." There was a pause. From outside I could hear cricket-toads singing their sad lonely songs to the moon; they were indeed sad but very beautiful. I often wondered how that could be, how could something that sounded so meaningful and forlorn, be one of the most beautiful sounds in the world. "But," Toph continued after a moment. "They always seemed like they had fun when they danced…"

"And we're going to make sure you have fun too, Toph." Suki said, leaning over the rail of the top bunk of look down at her blind friend. "This will be the best ball you've ever been too." I nodded, even though I knew they couldn't see me.

"Yeah Toph. We'll go out tomorrow, find you the nicest dress and dance the night away." Suki and I laughed, I even heard Toph giggle at this.

"Thanks guys…" Toph whispered loud enough for us to hear. "You know, you're the best friends I've ever had in my whole life. There's no where else on this earth I'd rather be then here with you." I smiled when I heard the small shiver in her voice. I knew that she was sad and happy at the same time, but the thought that we were pulling her away from her cheerless feelings and making her feel slightly better was enough to remind me that everything was going to be ok.


	22. Twenty Two

**Sorry this one took soooo long to post. School started and I've had NO time to write. So I'm afraid weekends and maybe some nights if I'm lucky will be the only time to write for me. Waah. :( But anyway, finally up. I don't think this chapter came out exactly how I wanted it too...sadly...but like I said I've had no time to write. I might redo this chapter if I get the time. But I hope you all still like it. Comment and enjoy****

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The next morning the girls and I were woken up by Jia and Jie, early. They told us that after breakfast we would be escorted by Jia around the town to shop for a suitable dress, shoes and accessories for the ball while the boys went with Jie. So after we got fully up and got dressed we went to join the boys who were apparently already waiting for us downstairs in the inn's dinning room.

"Good morning." Suki and I addressed to them as we walked in and took our seats at the long table. The dinning room was small; the only thing that was set in it was the table and about eight chairs sitting around it. That was all. The boys were sitting on the far end of the table, Zuko and Aang on one side, and Sokka on the other. Suki sat in the chair beside Sokka while I sat beside Aang and Toph beside me. They looked at us, Aang smiling.

"Morning." he said, looking straight at me.

"Yeah, morning." Sokka muttered hurriedly while he stuffed his mouth with food. I hadn't even noticed that there was already food out. Dozens of plates filled with mantou, congee, zongzi, fresh fruits, eggs and much more topped the table, along with a set of tea and cups of cold water. Jia and Jie stood at the opposite end of the table, staring at us with their usual eerie smile.

"How was your sleep?" Aang asked before picking a mantou off one of the large plates and taking a bite. I nodded and took one of my own.

"It was good. The bed was comfy." I said.

"Yeah, it was really comfy. It felt like I was sleeping on clouds." Suki agreed. Toph who was still half sleep laid her forehead down on the table and mumbled what I figured was an agreement too.

When we were finished eating, we headed off to go shopping. "What about this one?" Suki asked, holding a long red silk dress up to her, asking Jia and I for our opinions. Our first stop for shopping was at a small dress store that was only a few doors down from the inn. We had been looking for a while and I had found absolutely nothing that interested me, but Suki was determined not to give up.

"It's great." Toph huffed, rolling her head back with irritation. It wasn't hard to tell that shopping was not her thing. I tried to smile, but I couldn't help but feel quite bored as well.

"It's nice." I said. Suki frowned and put the dress back on the rack.

"I dunno…I kind of wanted something purple…maybe yellow…or green would be nice." She turned back to the rack and flipped through it. Toph groaned.

"Can we go?" she pleaded. "I'm sure you can find something purple maybe yellow or green at another store!"

Suki nodded and we left, walking towards another small boutique across the road. This one was a little bit roomier on the inside, and the dressed seemed more formal. Right away Suki rushed to the far wall and pulled out a long, beautiful silk cheongsam. Before I got a good look at it she rushed behind a large curtain that was the changing room. "I'm trying this on!" she called out to us from behind it. I looked down at the racks, running my hand over the dresses. I wanted something that would make Aang think I was the most beautiful girl on the world. That would make every other girl at the ball jealous, but at the same time I wanted something that Sokka would find appropriate so that I could avoid having to wear some sort of ugly, bulky covering.

"What color were you looking for?" Jia asked suddenly appearing right beside me. I looked up at her, surprised at first.

"Er…anything's fine." I told her.

"Well, what do you think?" I turned around to see Suki standing just outside of the curtain. The cheongsam was a dark royal purple that was covered in a white and magenta flower print. It was long; reaching down past her ankles, and one side of it had a long slit going up her leg to her upper thigh. The sleeves where short and the neck of it was tall, but all and all it was gorgeous and made Suki look even more stunning then she usually did. I smiled widely at her.

"Suki, it's beautiful." I complimented, staring enviously at her. There goes my plan on being the most beautiful girl at the ball. Suki grinned ear to ear and looked down at herself.

"I know I love it!" she chimed before turning around and rushing back behind the curtain. "I'm going to get it!"

"Lady Katara," I heard, coming from Jia's direction. I turned around to face her and what I saw made my jaw drop. "May I suggest, maybe, this dress?" she asked, holding up the most beautiful dress I had ever seen in my life.

By the time the boys and Jie were finished with the Earth Rumble and shopping, it was almost time for the feast so they headed back to the inn to wait for the girls. They each had on a set of black and white dress robes which they had bought, and had their hair done; both Zuko and Sokka's hair was tied back in a small neat bun, while as Aang's brown hair had just started becoming noticeable, so there was not much that could be done to it. "Well, not a bad day. Hungry though…" Sokka said as they stood in the lobby of the inn, he leaned his arm on Aang's shoulder.

"You're always hungry…" Zuko murmured, sounding a bit peeved. Aang swung his head around to look up the stairwell.

"I wonder where the girls are?" he said, to himself then to anyone. Jie who had disappeared through one of the doors beside the stairs came back into the room, smiling.

"You three must be very excited for tonight. Mr. Gonzo went to so much trouble preparing for everything." she said, her voice quiet. The similarities between her and her sister were extremely uncanny. They all mumbled their replies, each of them sounding not as enthusiastic as they probably should have. About five more minutes passed before finally the sound of feet thumping down the stairs could be heard. They boys all turned around and watched as Toph and Suki came into view, both of them looking the most beautiful they had ever looked.

Suki had her purple dress on with a pair of flat silver shoes. The top section of her hair was pulled back into a small silver ornament of sorts that was resting on the back of her head. Her make up was the cherry on top; it was natural but it was just enough to make her face glow. Toph who was right behind her had an olive green cheongsam that reached the floor. The neck was the same as Suki's, high, but the sleeves were different. Instead of the short t cut sleeves, they cut of right at her shoulders. Her hair was up in its usual bun, though her bangs her pulled back much like they had been while she had lived with her parents. There was a golden dangling ornament on the left side of her bun, that hung down just past her ear, and she had on make up as well. Sokka let out an amazed breath as he gawked at his girlfriend.

"Whoa…" he mumbled, looking Suki up and down. She smiled as she reached the bottom of the stairs and twirled in a full circle, as if showing off her whole appearance.

"You both look amazing." Zuko said flashing an extremely quick smile at the girls. Toph frowned.

"Well I feel disgusting! This dress is too long, my forehead feels empty and this make up is way too heavy! I feel like my face is going to fall off." she complained. Suki noticed that Aang was still looking patiently up the stairs, waiting for his date to come down. She smiled.

"Jia is just helping Katara with her dress. It was a little more complicated then ours." Aang looked at her and nodded.

"Oh." was all he said. Not ten seconds went by before the sound of footsteps came once more. Aang's head turned back in the direction of the stairs and his eyes widened. There was Katara wearing the most stunning dress he had ever seen before. It was a long Egypt blue hanfu with a pink obi and dark blue tie. The colors mashed perfectly with her mothers necklace that was still tied tightly around her neck. Most of her hair was left down but seemed straighter and thinner then it usually did. The top part of her hair was pulled up in a round bun and was being held back by a maroon ribbon. In the side of her hair was a small white flower, and her make up, unlike the others was a little bit more. Her eyelashes her darker and longer and her lips were glossed and shiny. Aang's mouth went absolutely dry she and Jia reached the bottom of the stairs, Katara was smiling.

"You look pretty Katara," Sokka mused as he too looked at his sister. His tone clearly said that he approved of what she was wearing. Aang nodded quickly in agreement, but his voice would not work. Katara tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Thanks," she said, her eyes glued to Aang.

Once at Gonzo's estate we were all surprised to see hundreds of people there. "There are so many people…" I said looking around at everyone as we took our seats at the long table. The estate was more like a palace then a house. It was at least two times bigger then Aang's. Not as big as the Earth King's palace, bit almost as close.

"Mr. Gonzo has invited," Jia started, she was sitting across from us at the table.

"All of our neighbouring towns to both the feast and the ball." Jie, who was sitting beside her finished.

"Is Yin Zhen here by any chance?" Sokka asked, stuffing his face with food. He hadn't wasted anytime in grabbing himself a plate of roast duck and rice. Jie and Jia stared blankly at him in silence for a few seconds.

"Yin Zhen?" Jie asked, putting expression into her speech for the first time.

"There is no such place as Yin Zhen around here." her sister added. We all looked at them, I was pretty sure Aang was about to say something but before he could a loud ding sound echoed through the mess hall and everything went quiet. Our gazes turned to the head of the table where Gonzo was standing, a large smile set on his plump face.

"Welcome!" he boomed. "I'm glad you all could make it on this fine evening! I am glad to announce that both the Avatar and the Fire Lord also made it tonight." He waved his hand towards Aang and Zuko and excited whispers rang out through the room. The two boys looked awkwardly at each other; every pair of eyes in the room was now on them. Gonzo who was also looking down at them licked his lips. "Yes, it is an honour to have them here. And after this lovely feast there will be a dance in the ball room of my estate just down that hallway." He pointed a large finger to the back of the mess hall, sure enough there was a door leading off into a brightly lit hallway. "If you came with a date then you are entirely welcome to join. If not then you may leave if you wish, or just stick around for some refreshments." When Gonzo was finished he sat back down and everyone began to eat. Zuko's eyes widened and he turned to Aang.

"We're supposed to have a date?" he asked in a whisper. Aang looked back.

"Well…I guess so. But its no big deal right, you can just go with Toph." he whispered back. Toph, who was sitting beside me, leaned over so that she was facing Aang.

"What?" she and Zuko gasped together.

"I have a girlfriend back home, remember?" Zuko said now turning a bit snappy.

"Yeah, back home." I cut in. All three of them looked at me. "It won't look as professional if you don't have a date, and I'm sure Gonzo is excepting all of us to be with someone. You and Toph are the only ones without dates. Just go as friends." There was a pause and Zuko just stared at the Earthbender. After a few minutes of silence he sighed.

"Fine. Just as friends though." Toph snorted and sat back in her chair.

"Obviously."

The feast was nice; everyone was having fun, discussing the ball, talking to friends. And the food was delicious; out of all of the feasts that we had been invited to in the past month this one had the best food by far. Dumplings, rice bowls, stir-fry's, soups, breads, cakes, if you wanted something they had it. After roughly everyone was finished eating, we slowly made our way away from the table and down the hallway. At the end of the hallway there was a large door that was being guarded by a man in a green uniform. Right away the man spotted Aang and Zuko and let us enter the room before everyone else.

"Wow," I mumbled when we got inside. The room was huge, dimly lightened by small white lights that were strung from the ceiling. Two large refreshment tables and many sitting tables were on the far left side of the room and on the far right was a band of Earth Kingdom musicians. Behind us everyone else was already starting to pile in, large crowds of people pushed their way past us, either heading off to the dance floor or to the refreshments. Sokka smiled and grabbed Suki's hand.

"Let's go dance!" he ordered happily, tugging her off into the crowd towards the dance floor. I smiled as I watched them go, in a few minutes that was going to be Aang and I, I knew it. Dancing wasn't really my thing, I wasn't necessarily good at it, but it gave me an excuse to be close to Aang without Sokka flying off the handle so I was looking forward to it. As if on cue I felt Aang's hand twine together with mine and I looked at him. He gray eyes were staring at me lovingly.

"Do you want to dance?" he asked. I took no time to nod in response and it was me who pulled him away, leaving Zuko and Toph standing together awkwardly. The song that was playing at the moment was rather fast and easy to move along with. Aang would flip, I'd twirl, he'd pull me close, his hands on my hips, I'd lean into him, he'd spin me out, repeat. It was great fun, and the more songs that went by the closer we started to get while dancing. Some of the dance moves that we were pulling I was sure Sokka would flip if he saw, but he was somewhere else with Suki, dancing as well. Finally, after about an hour of non stop dancing we decided to take a break and head over to get some drinks.

"I thought you said you didn't know how to dance?" Aang asked me as we sat down at a table. He passed me a glass of water he had just gotten from the refreshment table and I took a sip. I shook my head and put the glass down on the table.

"Well, you make it easy for me for some reason." I said, raising my hand and wiping the sweat from my forehead. Aang smiled proudly and took a swig of his own drink. I looked at him. Under the dim glow of the lights I could see the sweat pouring down his neck and forehead. But even with that he looked very handsome, his dress robes fit him perfectly and made him look older.

"Aang, Katara!" We both looked over to see Zuko rushing over to us, his expression defeated and tired.

"Have you seen Toph? I lost her like…twenty minutes ago and can't find her anywhere." Aang shook his head.

"No…we haven't seen her. Did you check outside? I'm pretty sure there a balcony over there." He twisted his upper body to point behind us to a large glass door that led out onto a wooden balcony. Zuko nodded.

"I'll go check." he said, and stalked away towards the door. When Zuko opened the door the cool breezy air hit him right away and he shivered, walking outside and shutting it again. The balcony was large, it ran the whole length of the house, plus it was dark and cold. He didn't want to be out here for long looking for Toph. "Toph!" Zuko called hoping she would be out here and answer right away. Unfortunately no such luck so he decided to stroll down the balcony before giving up. "Toph!" Half way down, right after he passed a couple making out in the shadows of a large statue of a badger-mole, Zuko saw her leaning on the balcony's railing, gazing sightlessly out into the darkness. He could tell by the way she was quietly standing there, she was upset so he approached her cautiously. "What's wrong?" Zuko asked when he got beside her. Toph sighed and looked down.

"Nothing…" she answered. He frowned.

"This doesn't exactly look like nothing. You've been gone for twenty minutes."

"I said nothing's wrong! Can't we just leave it at that?" she yelled, turning on him fiercely. Zuko looked at her for a moment before shaking his head.

"No, I don't think we can. I'm your date, I'm supposed to be looking out for you." Toph merely crossed her arms and looked away again.

"Toph…" Zuko insisted. She sighed.

"I'm sorry okay! I'm sorry that you got stuck with me for a date! I know you didn't want to go with me…and I know I'm no fun but I can't help it! When you're blind, dancing's just…out of the question. So I'm sorry." Zuko finally understood why she was so upset. For the hour that they had been at the ball she had been tripping over her feet, running into other people, and stepping on his feet. Not the best dance partner, but he could have worse…

"You're not that bad." Zuko lied, trying to make her feel better. Toph laughed coldly.

"Yeah, right. I made you dance into that creepy old lady, earlier…that's not bad at all." Zuko shivered at the memory.

"Yeah well…I could try to teach you."

"What?"

"How to dance. I mean I could try. When I was younger my mother taught me a thing or two about dancing. She was good." Toph forced a fake smile.

"Good enough to teach a blind girl?" she asked with a hint of sadness in her tone. Zuko smiled and took her wrist in his hand.

"Let's find out." he said, pulling her back to the door. They went inside and rushed to the dance floor. Zuko pulled her around so that she was facing him and took both of her hands in his. "Alright," he said looking down at her, then without warning his hands let go of hers and moved to her waist. Toph let out a breath of confusion as he lifted her up and placed her down so that her feet were on top of his, then his hands went back to hers. "Now, just do whatever I do." he whispered to her. Toph hesitated before nodding in agreement. Despite the fast beat music, Zuko went rather slow with Toph, moving their feet to an imaginary rhythm. At first Toph looked terrified and un confident, but it didn't take long before she was smiling and looking as proud as could be.

"I'm dancing!" she exclaimed happily as Zuko picked up the pace. "I'm actually dancing!" Zuko smiled at her sudden gladness.

"See, you're not bad."

"No you certainly are not." The two stopped dancing right away and watched as a familiar scruffy head of brown hair immerged from the crowd of people.

"What are you doing here?" Zuko asked Tadanobu as Toph jumped down from his feet. Tadanobu stopped walking when he got beside them and smiled. Unlike everyone else he was not in dress robes, but his usual black and red outfit.

"Dude, there was no way I'd pass up a shindig like this. Come on." he said, flashing a smug smile and Zuko. Zuko made a face.

"How'd you find us?" Toph asked, crossing her arms. Tadanobu shrugged.

"I've been following you. You know, keeping at a safe distance." Zuko and Toph looked blankly at the boy, their expressions creeped out. Tadanobu noticed this and furrowed his eyebrows. "What? It's what I do."

"Okay, well…is there a reason you decided to show up now?" Zuko asked. The boy looked at Toph dreamily.

"Well…I showed up here cause I wanted to ask this lovely lady to dance. That is, if it's all right with you, your majesty." Tadanobu looked back at Zuko and bowed sarcastically. Zuko scowled. "So what do you say sweetheart?" Tadanobu asked Toph. Toph pursed her lips.

"Only if you promise to leave me alone! And just one dance!" she hissed. Tadanobu smiled.

"Done." Toph told Zuko that she wouldn't be very long, and promised him that as soon as the song was over she'd find him again. Zuko didn't have a problem with her dancing with the scruffy haired boy, it wasn't like he liked her anymore then a friend or anything, and he was half sure that she just wanted to show off her new found dancing talent, so he agreed to meet her after the song and went off to the refreshments.

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Half way through my and Aang's conversation about my birthday, my ears twitched, hearing the music change for the very first time into a slow song. We looked into each others eyes, both of us thinking the exact same thing. "I love this song," I mumbled, though truthfully I had no idea what the song even was. Aang smiled.

"Well, then…lets go dance." he said and stood up. My heart began to race. I had never slow danced with Aang before and I was quite excited to do it. I stood up as well, but the minute he reached for my hand Gonzo came out of nowhere and clasped a hand on Aang's shoulder, stopping him. We both looked at him.

"Aang my boy," he began with a smile. I couldn't help but notice the group of teenage girls that were lagging close behind him, gawking longingly at Aang. "There are a few people who are just dying to meet you. Would you mind…?" Gonzo asked hinting that he wanted Aang to come with him. Aang frowned and his eyes shifted towards me.

"Er…well actually I…"

"Oh come no, it will only take a few minutes! It's not everyday you get to meet the all famous Avatar you know." Aang nodded in defeat and looked back at me.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. I shook my head and forced a smile.

"It's okay…" I said, although I could not hind my disappointment. Aang nodded again before being pulled away by Gonzo. I sighed and sat back down in my chair.

_Well there goes my chance for a slow dance tonight. _

"Do you mind if I sit here?" Zuko asked from behind me. I turned my head to look at him.

"Oh, no…go ahead." I said, turning my attention back to the crowd, scanning it for Aang and Gonzo. Zuko took the seat beside me and folded his arms on it.

"Where's Aang?"

"Gonzo wanted him to meet a few people."

"Does that bother you?" I shrugged.

"There's no getting around it. He's the Avatar. Where's Toph?"

"She's dancing with Tadanobu." I looked at him and cocked an eyebrow.

"Tadanobu? He's here?" This time Zuko shrugged.

"Apparently." he said. There was a pause and we both just listened to the music and watched as the others danced. I wanted to be out there dancing as well, I had had enough of just sitting down and doing nothing, but Aang was gone and who knew how long it would be until he got back. I looked at Zuko again and bit down on my bottom lip, considering the question over and over again in my head.

"Do you want to dance?" I asked him after a few seconds. He looked at me, slightly puzzled. "I mean...just as friends." I added quickly. I didn't think Aang would mind too much if I danced with Zuko just as friends, he danced with his fans all the times at other parties, although it wasn't slow dancing but still. When Zuko continued to not answer I began to get embarrassed for asking in the first place and turned away, I could feel my cheeks burning. "We don't have to, I was just wondering." I muttered awkwardly. Zuko ran his tongue over his bottom lip and continued to look at me.

"We can dance." he said. "Just as friends." I watched as Zuko got up from the table and started over to the dance floor, I jumped to my feet and followed him. When we were both amongst the other people Zuko put one hand so lightly on my waist I barely felt it, then took my hand in the other one. I rested my free hand on his shoulder and we began to dance very slowly. It was strange dancing with someone so tall, I wasn't really used to it. I couldn't really look at his face without bending my neck so that I could look upward. But in a way I didn't really want to look at his face, I couldn't for some reason force myself to look into his eyes like you were supposed to do in a slow dance, it was awkward and uncomfortable. I was starting to think that this wasn't such a good idea. A slight burning sensation on my hand and hip made me forget about my regrets and I looked down, wondering what was happening.

"You're really hot…" I told Zuko; right away I blushed again, noticing that that probably came out wrong. Zuko however didn't seem to take it that way and understood what I was referring too.

"Yeah, Mai always tells me about that. It's a firebender thing." he said as if it was nothing. I nodded slowly.

"Oh." There was another awkward silence as we continued to circle. "You know," I started trying to make conversation. "I'm really sorry about your mom. If there was anything that could have been done…" Zuko looked down at me.

"It's alright…everything happens for a reason right? Maybe this is just a way of saying…well…" Zuko stopped talking and looked down.

"Zuko, it's all right to be sad you know. You don't have to hide your feelings or anything."

"I'm not hiding anything. I'm fine."

"Katara!"

Immediately Zuko let go of me and I turned around to see Aang walking over to us. "Aang, you're finished?" I asked him. Aang looked from me to Zuko.

"Uh, yeah. Gonzo wanted me to meet a few girls, they just wanted an autograph." Zuko coughed and backed away from me.

"I'm going to go see if Toph is finished." he said before disappearing into the crowd. Aang looked at me before taking my waist and pulling me closer. I put my arms around his neck and rested my head on his shoulder as we began to dance. I really hoped that he didn't think anything happened; it was just a dance between friends, but the look on his face clearly said that he was a little bit hurt. I defiantly did not feel anything more then friendship towards Zuko, though. Aang was the one I loved, truly loved and he should know that.


	23. Twenty Three

**Sorry for this lame ass chapter. The next one will definatly make up for it though, and to prove that to you there will be a short preview for it at the end of this chapter. Enjoy and comment. :D**

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"Oww! Watch it!" Toph shrieked as she quickly moved her left foot out of the way. She and Tadanobu had been dancing the entire slow dance; unfortunately neither of them was particularly good at doing so. Right away Tadanobu looked down at their feet, noticing that his foot was in the exact spot where hers had been just seconds ago.

"Sorry bout' that. Haven't danced in a while." he said, turning his attention back to Toph's face. His hands which here lightly resting on her waist slowly slid downward a few inches. Toph frowned, reached down and brought them back up. Tadanobu snickered; this had been his third time trying to pull this move. "Sorry bout that too."

"Just a question, but is there something seriously wrong with you?" Tadanobu didn't answer; instead he just continued their slow in step circling in silence, gazing off at the dancing couples around them. After a minute or two he cleared his throat.

"So, you're blind." he started, making conversation.

"Nothing gets passed you, does it eagle eye?" she mumbled back to him. "I hope you know I only agreed to dance with you because of our deal! No other reason!" He nodded in understanding, ignoring the fact that she could not see.

"I know sweetheart. I know." Toph wrinkled her nose and narrowed her eyebrows.

"Don't call me sweetheart!" she hissed. At this point the slow song was over and a new up beat fast one was now playing. Everyone seemed to have changed their dancing style except for Toph and Tadanobu, both of which who were still in slow mode. Even Katara and Aang, who had been dancing, rather closely, had stopped, and Suki and Sokka who had been dancing non-stop all night were taking a break.

"Why'er you always so cranky? Ever since we met you've been nothin' but…touchy." Tadanobu asked.

"I'm only touchy to people I don't like!" The minute Toph realized the song was over she dropped her hands from his shoulders and back up a few steps. This resulted in him giving her a confused look. "One dance, remember? The songs over." Tadanobu smiled calmly and nodded.

"Kay. I get it. A deals a deal. Thanks." His smile widened, causing his white teeth to be seen through his slightly parted lips. Toph could hear the gratitude in his voice and after a few seconds she forced a quick smile back.

"You're welcome…" she mumbled.

Four more songs played before the ball finally ended, the music stopped and the lights came back on. When this happened, almost everyone in the room came over to meet Zuko and Aang making it impossible for us to leave right away. It took about another hour and a half for everyone to introduce themselves and get autographs, and by the time everything was finished we were all exhausted. One our way back to the inn, Tadanobu told us that he was staying somewhere else, though he didn't tell us exactly where, and that if we needed him he would be there for us. The message was nice, but at the same time a little creepy, but nonetheless we thanked him and parted ways.

"I'm so tired…as soon as I get this crud off my face I'm going to sleep." Toph mumbled as we trudged up the stairs of the inn to our rooms. Everyone agreed. Aang and I were the last into our bedrooms, and before I stepped inside I looked back at him only to see that he was doing the same. The look in his eyes though were somewhat hurt, they had been like this half the night, and I was beginning to wonder. I stepped back away from the door and faced him fully.

"Aang…" I said in a whisper. He kept looking at me. "Are you upset that I danced with Zuko?" His eyes flashed away from me and his eyebrows furrowed.

"What? No. I'm just tired." he answered though I knew it wasn't completely true. I walked over to him and put a hand on his cheep.

"Aang, I know you better then that. It's bothering you, but…it shouldn't. It didn't mean anything," I reassured him. His eyes locked with mine and the expression in the changed. I smiled and leaned into him, placing my lips on his for a quick passionate kiss before pulling away.

"I love you, and only you. Forever." Aang returned the smile and we said our goodnights, then we turned to our doors and went in, ready for a good nights sleep.

In the morning we ate breakfast and left Republic Village, continuing on our way to Yin Zhen. We soon arrived at the area where the map told us the town was, but all we could see were mountains, and tree's. After twenty minutes of circling Zuko finally spotted something. "There!" he cried, kneeling over the rim of Appa's saddling and pointing down into the forest. I looked as well, and sure enough I could barley see the red roofs of houses poking out from the tree tops. Aang landed Appa not too far from where we had seen the houses, and we walked the rest of the way into the town. It was small, much smaller then Republic Village, and the houses looked old and worn down.

"Is it just me…or does this town seem kind of…" Suki started as we walked down the street of the ghost town. There was absolutely no sign of life anywhere around us, everything was still and quiet.

"Empty…" Zuko finished as he stopped at a small shop to look inside one of its windows. On the other side of the glass, it was extremely dark, and since the road was sheltered by the shade of the tree's that rounded the town it was even more shadowed. He stepped back away from it to rejoin us in walking. Sokka who was in the front of the group with Aang and I put his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice.

"HELLO! ANYBODY HOME!" he yelled out. I quickly turned on him and grabbed his wrist, pulling his arms down.

"Sokka! Do you really think that's the best idea?" I demanded, letting go of him. He looked at me, his eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"How are we supposed to find information on the Shadowbenders if there's no one to give it to us? HELLO!" He turned away from me and began yelling again. Toph stopped walking and grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling him to a stop.

"Wait!" she compelled. We all stopped and looked at her.

"I can feel something…" A defining silence broke out; as if somehow we thought that staying extremely quiet would make us be able to hear or feel whatever Toph was feeling.

"There! In that house!" Aang called out, pointing to a house straight ahead of us. I looked. There in one of the bottom windows of the house was a thick red curtain, but in the corner of it, a man could be visibly seen standing there. As soon as he saw us looking however his eyes widened and he back away from the window, disappearing behind the drapery. We rushed over to the house and Aang knocked his fist on the wooden door. It made a loud creaking sound, implying that it was only a few knocked away from snapping in two. No one answered.

"Well…this place sure has friendly people…doesn't it?" Toph mumbled under her breath.

"Maybe he just didn't hear." Aang suggested, knocking on the door for the second time, only this time it was a little louder. Toph sighed and shook her head.

"Always the optimist."

"Here, step aside and watch how it's done." Sokka said to Aang as he lightly nudged him out of the way. Aang didn't protest and moved right away, allowing Sokka to bang fiercely on the door with both fists. I cringed as I heard the door screech, took a step towards my brother and held out my hand as if reaching out to him.

"Sokka, maybe you shouldn't…" I said, but it was too late. When Sokka struck the door for about the seventh time his right fist drove right through the weak oak. I gasped and jumped back, bringing my hand to my chest, surprised. Sokka groaned and withdrew his hand from the splintered wood. Blood was gushing from the side of his hand and his knuckles, turning his whole hand red. Suki turned pale and frowned.

"Oh Sokka…" she whimpered, hovering her hands above his, probably deciding if she wanted to touch it to comfort it or not. While all of us were looking over Sokka's wounds, the door to the house swung inward and the man who we had seen in the window was standing there staring at us.

"SHHHHH!" he shushed us rudely. "Do you have to be so loud? And look what you did to my door!" The man was old, tall and skinny, with a slight hunch. He was bald except for the thin trace of gray hair that ran along the sides and back of his head. His clothing was just as worn as his house looked, almost like he was dressed in rags. This town was so much more different then Republic Village and it wasn't hard to tell. Sokka frowned and showed him his bleeding hand.

"Look what your door did to me! I might never be able to use this hand again!" he cried dramatically. I sighed and quick bent some of the water out of my water pouch that I still had slung over my shoulder, then I covered Sokka's hand with the liquid. When I took it off again his hand was fully recovered. The man ignored him and just looked down at the rather large whole in his door, his expression cold.

"Who are you kids anyway? What are you doing here?" he asked. Zuko stepped forward, holding his head up high.

"I am Fire Lord Zuko."

"I'm the Avatar. And these are our friends." Aang said, also stepping forward. Right away the man's expression changed to shocked and he turned around to look at us, mainly Zuko and Aang.

"Th-the Avatar and Fire Lord?" he repeated acting as if he had heard wrong. Zuko nodded slowly.

"Yes."

The man's bottom lip, which had been slightly parted from his top, began to quiver and he looked as if he was going to break down. I furrowed my eyebrows, worried that the news had triggered a heart attack or something. "Spirits…" the man mumbled to himself before dropping to his knee's on the ground. Both Suki and I lunged forward to help him back to his feet, both of us taking one arm each. We all took him into his house to the living room where we sat him down on an old dusty chair. As a matter of fact, the entire house looked old and dusty; everything was out of date and looked rather dull. It was kind of like the color was just zapped from everything.

"Are you okay sir?" Suki asked the man quietly as she back away from the chair. He bowed his head.

"Yes. I just wasn't expecting the Avatar and the Fire Lord to come here of all places. And at the same time." he told her. "It is-"

"An honor to have them here. Yeah…we've heard that one before." Toph interrupted.

"Yes," the man agreed. "And you came at the right time. Things have been happening around here lately that…well…is not so good for the townsfolk." The more he continued on, the more faint his voice became I raised an eyebrow.

"What kind of things?" I questioned him. I watched as the man's eyes slowly turn to a shadowed corner of the room, I followed his gaze. There was nothing there but darkness.

"I shouldn't…I can't say." he said, looking down at the ground. "I'm sorry."

"We can't help you unless you tell us what the problem is." Aang said, his voice serious. There was a pause.

"So…what are you kids here for anyway?" the man asked, changing the subject. Zuko was the one who answered.

"We're here for our own business. Do you have an inn or something around here that we can stay at?" The man shook his head.

"Not enough visitors for an inn I'm afraid. But our town's doctor, Dr. Che'eng has been transferred to Ba Sing Se ever since the war has been over. He's not due back for about a month. His house is big enough, and only about a five minute walk from here. You're welcome to stay there if you wish."

After agreeing the man took us outside and began to walk into the woods towards the mountains. Not too far into them a large white house appeared, it's walls and roof covered in vines and tree branches, the windows all boarded up. I looked up at it. "Creepy…" I mumbled as I heard the front door being pulled open, it sounded like it stuck in the frame slightly when the man pulled.

"Uh…why are all the windows boarded up?" Sokka asked, also eyeing the window. The man stayed quiet.

"Sir," Aang started lowering his voice. "Are the things that are happening…are they connected with the Shadowbenders?" The man looked at Aang, his face full of fear.

"Shh," he silenced him, holding his index finger up to his lips. "We do not speak of them here. Not out loud at least…" he said before looking around quickly as if he thought someone was listening. "Come on inside!"

With that the man rushed inside of the house, we followed close behind him. When he shut the door behind us, everything went pitch black. I got a little scared at first and grabbed a hand that was right beside me, praying to the spirits that it was Aang's. But just went my eyes were beginning to adjust, the lights went on, and everything went overly bright. All of us cowered out eyes from the light and moaned. "Sorry," the man apologized. "Bright lights are a must. They hate bright lights."

"So it is the Shadowbenders?" Zuko asked. The man nodded. It didn't take long for my eyes to get used to the brightness, and when they did I took a good look around. Other then the unnecessary illumination, the house was gorgeous. Dark oak floors, nice furniture and accessories, large wooden stairs. You could tell that whoever lived here had money. The man took a breath.

"For the past month, it's been real bad. Everything…started changing." His hands began to shake, "I can't tell you much. But…I must warn you. Do not take the boards off the windows, the moon, the stars cast shadows inside. It would make it too easy for them to get in. Cover any cracks, key wholes, anything that could let them get inside. Keep the lights on!"

The more he told us about what to do and what not to do the more I began to worry. How dangerous were these Shadowbenders? What could a shadow possibly do to you that were so bad?

"And most importantly, don't go outside after dark, and always travel with somebody. Never go anywhere alone. It might be the last thing you ever do."

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**Preview**

**Aang swallowed slowly and continued to stair off into the distence. "Sokka's going to be fine, Katara..." he said in a hushed tone. I nodded slowly, looking at him curiously. **

**"I know he is." I agreed. There was another pause, and this time the silence began to pulse in my head. "Is that...all?"**

**Aang looked down, still refusing to look at me and sighed. "Not really..." he mumbled, no expression in his tone. My heart dropped slightly, knowing that there was indeed something wrong. Aang would never speak to me this way, not this coldly. It was strange.**

**"Oh...?" was all I could say in response as I waited patiently. Aang closed his eyes and swallowed again, another not so good sign in my oppinion.**

**"Katara...I don't think we should be together anymore..." **

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There it is then. :)

I hope it has all of you on the edge of your seats to find out why Aang would say that, what happened to Sokka, and whats going to happen next. Ahahha. Well, you'll find out soon, won't ya. :P

Until then.


	24. Authors Note

**Heyy guys. Oh my gosh I'm soooo sorry everyone, I've really been slacking lately with writing. I just have had no time.**

**To be totally honest the next chapter isn't even close to being finished but it will be hopefully by the coming weekend.**

**I just wanted to post this just so you all know that I haven't quit on this lol, I am intending on finishing this fic, so no worries there.**

**Anyway, so yeah, the chapter will be up probably sometime this week. Sorry for the delay.**

**~Tyler743**


	25. Twenty Five

**Okay, finally chapter up. lol. The beginning of this chapter was actually murder, it was soooo hard I had the biggest writers block ever. But I got through it, even though this one is another one of those chapters that I kind of want to fix someday. ahaha, but for now here it is. :P Enjoy. **

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We gaped at the man for what felt like hours, silence flooding around us. His warning made it clear that this was no longer a small issue that could be taken lightly, if the Shadowbenders were inflicting this much fear on the town and it's people, there was defiantly something seriously wrong. "Well," the man started as he fumbled back to the door. "I'll leave you kids to your business. Help yourselves to anything in the kitchen. Oh! And my name's Shenmi, I'll be in my house back in town if you need anything." With that, Shenmi lightly pulled open the door and went outside, closing it behind him and leaving us alone. We all stood there for awhile, each of us looking at either the boarded windows, or into the lighted hallways leading away from the room.

"So, should we…take a look around? Find out rooms?" Suki asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah," Aang nodded. "Good idea."

The six of us searched around the bottom half of the house looking for the bedrooms. Unfortunately all we found were a very large kitchen and dinning room. A family room and what looked like a study of sorts. Each of the rooms were large, and well taken care of. It was hard to believe that the house was a part of this run down town. When we were done looking around downstairs we went up the stairs to the second floor of the house. Right off the stairwell was a long hallway going down either way of the house. In total there were six doors going off the hallway, three on the left side, and three on the right. "These must be the bedrooms." Zuko murmured as he started towards one of the doors. We all branched away from each other and went in different rooms.

The one I went to was the second door on the right, inside of it was light, like the rest of the house, but it was cozier. It wasn't as big as my own room in our house in Ba Sing Se, but it was suitable. There was a nice bed on the far side, pushed up against the wall. It had light brown covers and tall wooden posts. On the opposite side of the room was a dresser made from the same matching wood as the bed. And that was about it. A nice room for a short stay at this run down town, I thought. I went back out into the hallway, the others already standing in front of their own doors.

"Alright, did everyone pick a room?" Sokka asked looking around at us before his gaze stopped at me. "And before you answer that, I'd just like to make it clear that its defiantly off limits for girls and boys to share a room." I crossed my arms.

"I picked this room." I said, trying to ignore his comment.

"I picked that one," Aang pointed to a door down the opposite hall, the one at the very end.

"And I'll have this one." Zuko motioned his head to the door that was right across from mine and right beside Sokka's. Sokka nodded then looked at Suki and Toph.

"Did you guys get one?"

"There isn't enough rooms Sokka," she began, her brow furrowed. "Two of us will have to share one." Sokka nodded his head.

"Alright, no problem. Suki, you can come in my room with me. I have a double bed." he said causing me to frown.

"I thought you just said that its defiantly off limits for girls and boys to share a room." I reminded him sharply. His azure eyes turned on me and he was quiet for a minute.

"That only applies to those under sixteen!" he finally snapped back at me. I gave him a smug smile.

"Well, technically, Aang is one hundred and thirteen years old."

"And you're fourteen! Maybe you should stop dating such an old guy, it's creepy!" was his response. I narrowed my eyes.

"Suki wasn't there a chair in your room? I can just sleep there." Toph interrupted our argument. Suki nodded violently.

"Yeah that's a great idea Toph. If you really don't mind?"

"I don't." Toph confirmed as she crossed her arms. "I've slept on worse before." Since I was still looking at Sokka I caught the sudden disappointed shrug he gave before looking down at the ground. That's what he got. For the next hour we did nothing but laze around the house, thinking about our next move. We all sat downstairs in the family room and talked it over. We decided that we would once again split up to search for information.

"Oh I forgot!" Suki shouted suddenly, changing the subject. She walked over to me and threw her arms around me, giving me a large, tight hug. "Happy birthday Katara!" I hugged her back before she let go and backed up to the chair that she was sitting on.

"Yeah, happy birthday." Toph said as well, punching me the in the arm.

"Happy birthday…" Zuko mumbled quietly, smiling slightly.

"Happy birthday." Aang and Sokka said this at the exact same time, causing both of them to look at each other.

"Thank you," I thanked them, then turned to my brother. "See Sokka, I'm not fourteen, I'm fifteen."

"One year difference, big whoop." Sokka said sticking his tongue out at me, immaturely.

"Too bad we're in the middle of a crisis right now; we could have done something fun for a party or at least gotten you presents." Suki said with a shrug. I shook my head and smiled.

"It's alright." I looked at Aang. "But maybe since it's my birthday…we could…do something special?" I suggested. Before he could answer Sokka bolted up from the couch where he was sitting and stared down at me. I rolled my eyes. "You know…like take a walk or something…" Aang hesitated and looked at Sokka; I knew that he was making sure it was permitted. Sokka slowly returned to his seat and nodded.

"Yeah, that sounds great." Aang chimed as he looked at me.

"What about looking around for information on the Shadowbenders?" Zuko asked, his golden eyes shifting over to me.

"We can just kill two birds with one stone," Aang said before I could answer. "Me and Katara can go for a walk and look for information, and sight see while we go."

Later in the day, when all of us were a little more settled in the house, Aang and I indeed left for our walk. We started out just walking beside one another until we escaped the view of the house, then our hands linked together like magnets. Trying to find someone in the town for information was a lot harder then I thought it would be. Almost every house that we went to was completely empty, and the ones that weren't the people inside would shoo us away, refuse to talk, or just hide behind their boarded windows, curious eyes peeking out through the cracks in the wood. This plan was turning into a hit and miss situation. Even Shenmi was nowhere to be found, it was almost as if he had disappeared. We didn't attempt to search for long, there was no point in doing so really, and since it was my birthday, we did have other matters to attend to.

Aang and I walked cluelessly along a path that ascended itself into the forest. I had no idea where it led, and I was almost positive he didn't either, but nonetheless I followed him as he lead me, hand in hand, deeper into the deserted forest. My heart began to pound in my chest. Why was he taking me down here, alone? Farther and farther away from Sokka and the others until finally… "Aang, what are you…" before I could finish, Aang jerked himself quickly to the side, tugging me in front of him so that we were now face to face. His grip moved from my hand to my waist and he roughly pushed me backwards.

I felt my back come in contact with something hard, most likely a tree I figured. The roughness of the push caused the collide to hurt quiet a bit actually, but as soon as his lips hungrily met mine the pain washed away. I allowed my lips to naturally part as he added pressure to the tender kiss, and his tongue quickly invaded my mouth. I moaned as his hands circled over my hips, and I reached up in between us with my own hands, grabbing onto the front of his tunic and pulling him even closer. His groin was now so immensely close to mine I could feel the hardness pressed against me and I began to shake. I experimentally bucked my hips into him, causing our body's to grind together in just the right areas. This time he was the one who moaned and his hands clutched my waist tighter, pulling me into him, causing the action to repeat and the tension to build. This was driving me crazy, _he_ was driving me crazy. My sanity was beginning to slip and I could feel it. His mouth finally pulled away from mine, giving me a chance to breathe, and his lips traveled to my neck where he nipped at my skin. My breathing began to get quick and it was extremely hard to catch my breath. I could feel every muscle in my body tensing up and my abdomen began to tingle. I knew Aang was beginning to feel the same way because I could feel him trembling. But despite this, he continued to slightly thrust into me, guiding my hips along with the rhythm of his own. My moans where now more vocal and my pitch was rising.

"Aang…" I whispered, pleading for him to do something more, remove clothing, touch me, anything along those lines. But instead, his eyes bolted open and he stopped everything. I looked at him as he pulled away, slightly annoyed. Was he actually going to leave me, just when I had almost reached my peak? He could not do that, it wasn't fair. He looked into my eyes and smiled, trying to catch his own breath.

"Before you say anything," he started before leaning into me and placing another light kiss on my lips. "Happy birthday."

"So, that was my present?" I asked, pushing some loose hair out of my face. His smile grew a little and he nodded.

"Like it?" I smiled back and nodded.

"Could have been more, but I'm not complaining. I'm guessing I'm lucky to have gotten that much, aren't I?"

"Very lucky." he agreed. I sighed. Well it was more then we had ever done, I just wish we could have done a little bit more. But like I said, I wasn't complaining.

"I can't believe you stopped yourself." I told him as I slid my back down the tree until I was sitting on the forest floor. Aang sat down as well, beside me.

"To tell you the truth, neither can I really. But the image of Sokka waiting for us back at the house, fully equipped with his boomerang, helped loads, believe me." I laughed at this and snuggled into him.

When we walked back to the house, we stayed quiet, enjoying the oncoming night air. Learning more about the Shadowbenders was a complete fail. Getting a little further in our relationship, success. "We're home!" I called when we got into the house. Aang shut the door behind us and quickly locked about seven locks that were bolted on the door. I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed them before.

"Kitchen!" Toph's voice called from somewhere in the house. Aang and I walked through the main hallway and came out in the large clean kitchen. Zuko, Suki, and Toph where all sitting on the table, Toph and Suki playing Pai Sho, and Zuko was reading The Book of Shadows. Sokka was standing at the cooler, the door to it wide open as he searched for something to eat or drink.

"How was your walk?" Suki asked us as we sat down, her eyes not moving from the game board in front of her.

"It was _nice_. We didn't find anything out though." I answered. She nodded. I watched their game for a minute before I felt Aang's hand brush against mine. I looked at him, only to see his large childlike grin staring me in the face.

"So what do you say, best birthday ever?" he asked in a hushed tone. I pursed my lips.

"Hmmm…pretty close." From behind me I could hear the cooler door shutting, I had guessed Sokka had finally found what he was looking for. Aang raised an eyebrow, so I decided to explain. "I mean, my eighth birthday was pretty great. All of my family together…my mom. My dad took us all on this picnic in the middle of nowhere, but it was so…beautiful. The way the sun was in just the right spot to warm up the area. And the way the celestial lights made the snow change color. Me and Sokka…we went penguin sledding." I smiled at Aang suggestively as the memoires of he and I penguin sledding the first time we met filled my mind. Then my thoughts went back to my mother and I hesitated. "It was three days before they came…before the…killed her. When I think about it now, I realize it was my last birthday with her. That's why it was my best, because I got to share it with my mother." I watched as Aang's silver eyes slowly dropped down to look at Toph and Suki's game.

"Well…" he murmured. "I defiantly can't compete with that."

"Not true." I whispered, not wanting anybody else to hear. He looked back up at me, our eyes met. "There is…one way you can make it my best birthday…"

"Katara…" As soon as my name left his lips, my heart skipped. I knew it was intended to be a _"would you give it a rest we're not doing anything until we're older" _scolding, but the tone of his voice said otherwise, it was almost…seductive. The option that maybe he was finally giving into me popped into my heard and I began to internally freak out with excitement. But before anything more could be said or done, a loud crash that came from behind me caused everyone to look up from what they were doing, and what we saw filled all of us with shrill horror.

Suki let out a loud, bloodcurdling scream as both Zuko and Aang sprung up from the table and rushed over to Sokka who was sprawled out of the floor, shaking tremendously and foaming from the mouth. "What happened?" Aang asked as he kneeled by Sokka's head and tried to keep it in his lap, but Sokka was wriggling too much, it almost looked like he was in sever pain. Finally, when I got a hold of myself I slid out of my seat and onto the floor to my brother, Suki did the same.

"I don't know…he just dropped." Zuko said, his head trashing back and forth trying to find the source of what had happened.

"It looks like he's been poisoned…" I mumbled, looking down at him, trying to think of something to do before it was too late. Suki began to whimper as she looked at him.

"Sokka…" she cried. Toph who hadn't moved from her seat looked underlie mortified. She closed her eyes tightly and covered her ears with her hands, clearly not wanting to hear the desperate cries. Aang looked at Zuko.

"Did he drink or eat anything?" he asked. Zuko shook his head.

"Just that." he said pointing at a bottle that had shattered all over the floor from when he had fallen. I looked down, and all around me was blue metallic liquid, mixed with a deep red substance. That's when I noticed the pain in my legs, and I realized I was bleeding.

"WELL SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!" Suki yelled, tears falling down her face. Ignoring the pain in my and how scared I actually was I turned to Aang.

"Hold his head!" I ordered. Aang did not hesitate and did as he was told. He clutched onto Sokka's head, trying to hold him still. I hovered my hand over his mouth, praying that he would at least stop shaking. A loud gurgling noise began to rise from the back of Sokka's throat, and then he went completely limp. We all sat there for a minute just staring. After a few seconds of nothing happening, I began to really panic and I brought my hand up in a clawing motion. "Come on Sokka…come on…" I pleaded, a single tear running down my cheek. His head leaned back a little more as a sphere of blue liquid levitated out of his mouth. I bent it back to the floor to join the rest of the liquid, glass and blood. The next minute was completely silent. In my mind all I could think was that I needed him to be okay, he had to be okay. Then, all of a sudden Sokka took a deep breath in and his eyes slowly batted open. Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"Ugghh…" Sokka groaned.

* * *

"I don't get it, how does she keep finding us?" Suki asked as we all sat in the family room. We had found out that the drink Sokka had drank was the drink the woman had given Aang in Shengshu, which also led us to believe that Azula was the woman in disguise trying to kill Aang. It all made perfect sense. Zuko who was sitting on the ground, his back pressed up against the wall shrugged.

"I don't know, but we're going to have to be more careful, because I'll bet you anything she'll just keep pulling stunts like this until she gets to Aang." he said, looking over at the Airbender who was sitting with Toph and I on the couch. Aang looked down sadly, and I noticed this.

"Aang…" I mumbled, furrowing my eyebrows. He looked at me.

"Katara, can I talk to you for a minute?" he didn't wait for a response; instead he just got up and left for the stairs. I looked at the others who were all looking at me, mainly Sokka who still looked a little sick.

"I'll be right back." I told them before getting up and rushing after him. I knew where he was going, his bed room, I just wanted to know what this was about. I got to his room and went inside, it was large. There was about two dressers, a chair, a large bookshelf, a table, a door leading into his own private bathroom, and in the middle of everything a large bed where he was sitting, waiting for me, though he wasn't looking at me, instead he was staring off, looking at something that I could not see. I gulped, went over to him and say down. There was a pause.

"What did you want to tell me?" I asked after a minute. Aang swallowed and continued to stair off into the distance.

"Sokka's going to be fine Katara," he said in a hushed tone. I nodded slowly, looking at him curiously.

"I know he is." I agreed. There was another pause, and this time the silence began to pulse in my head. "Is that…all?" Aang looked down, still refusing to look at me and sighed.

"Not really…" he mumbled, no expression in his tone. My heart dropped slightly, knowing that there was indeed something wrong. Aang would never speak to me this way, not this coldly. It was strange.

"Oh…?" was all I could say in response as I waited patiently. Aang closed his eyes and swallowed again, another not so good sign in my opinion.

"Katara…I don't think we should be together anymore…"

If I hadn't seen the words come out of his mouth myself, I would not have believed he had said it. I was in pure shock. "You...you what? Where is this...why...why not? Sokka said something to you, didn't he?" I snapped, wanting to know the truth of why he was saying this. I was half exspecting him to say _just kidding _at any moment.

Aang put his hand on mine and shook his head. "Sokka...didn't say anything..."

I yanked my hand away from him in annoyence and narrowed my eyebrows. "Then where is this coming from?"

Aang looked down at his lone hand, his expression a bit hurt before he answered me. "Azula 's been after us this whole time; she's trying to get to me. And already she's kidnapped Toph, tried to kill Appa and Momo, and now this, poisened Sokka. I'm scared to think of what she'd do to you if she found out we were together. I don't want to think of it. I mean look, you're already hurt." Aang looked down at my bandaged legs. The broken glass had cut quite deep into both of them, and as a result I had to try my best to heal them, but for some reason the magic didn't work as well as it usualy did and Suki had to bandage them for a day or two so that I would not scratch at them.

"Then don't think about it!" I hissed. "This is just a scratch, I'm fine. And I can handle Azula, I've done it before, I can do it again."

This time Aang narrowed his eyebrows. "You can't do it again, Katara. You won't know what she'll look like! This is the only way we can make sure you'll be safe!"

"But I don't want to not be with you!" I sobbed as I lightly put my hand on his soft cheek. Aang sighed and reached up with his own, taking mine away.

"Please Katara, I don't know what I'd do if I lost you...you're all I have."

I looked at him and in his eyes I saw the same sadness that I felt right now. I knew that this was hard for him and he didn't really want to do it...and I knew that he was right. I bowed my head in defeat. "I understand..." I said sadly.

He forced a sad smile. "I knew you would..."


	26. Authors Note 2

Heyy guys. I am sooooooo sorry I have big slacking big time on this. The truth is I'm really busy with school and keeping my grade up because I am going to Japan for a semester next year and I need to have all my credits done and other with before I can go, which sucks. ahaha

But I promise you guys that I will definatly finish this fic. Probably, the next chapter I write will either be sometime in spring or early summer when schools calmed down, but I am finishing this! Promise :)


	27. TYLER'S BACK

TYLER'S BACK!

Guess what guys, after the long year without writing anything, I have returned to complete AVATAR: The Rising Empire. I have to admit that I kind of got side tracked on different projects, but as soon as I watched Legend of Korra I realised that I needed to start writing again. So now I'm back. I'm pleased to inform that the next chapter will be out within the next few weeks, I'm in the process of writing it now. I'm so glad to be back, and to be honest I missed you guys I hope most of you will not be mad at me for disappearing and will return reading the fic. Can't wait to hear from you !


	28. Twenty Six

**OMG guys! I'm so excited. I haven't uploaded a chapter in this fic for over a year and now I'm finally back! I'm so sorry about that too guys :( I really was just focusing on other projects and I kind of got caught up in them. But after watching LOK I definitely got put back into the Avatar mood. Legend of Korra is pretty good btw, its sooooooo different then the original. I'm not going to say I like it more than Avatar because I don't, but its pretty good. I'm still trying to figure out who Amon is, kind of think its Sokka and Suki's son but idk. Tell me what you guys think! Enjoy :)**

* * *

My entire body felt like lead as I walked back to my room that night. My mind was still failing to process what had just happened. Aang had broken up with me, but somewhere in the back of my mind I refused to believe it had happened. Maybe I had been dreaming? Maybe I had misheard? Or maybe this was just some disgusting prank that he was trying to pull. Whatever it was, I wasn't buying it, not for a second. At least I was trying not to.

I felt dizzy all of a sudden and lost my balance, stumbling over my own feet until the side of my body hit the wall.

_"Katara…I don't think we should be together anymore"_

He had actually said those words. And yes the break up probably wouldn't last; he had said himself he was just concerned about Azula finding out about us, so the sooner we stopped her, the sooner we could get back together. I felt a little relieved as I thought about this, but it didn't take long for my mind to wonder and I automatically felt bad again. What if he had broken up with me for a different reason and he just wanted to let me down easy so he made up the Azula story. What if I was turning out to be a pushier girlfriend then he had originally wanted. He was thirteen after all and all I had been doing for the past few weeks was trying to push him into something he wasn't ready for. I lifted my hand and pushed it against the wall, pulling myself back into an upright position, and then continued to my room.

Shutting the door behind me I rushed over to the bed and laid face down into the chocolate sheets. My eyes were beginning to burn and I could feel myself about to cry, but I held back as much as I could. This was my birthday, it was supposed to be happy, not the absolute worst day of my life, I couldn't cry. I didn't want to feel defeated, not today.

_"Please Katara, I don't know what I'd do if I lost you...you're all I have."_

Remembering his words and the look in his eye finally broke me. It started out as a heavy sob, then grew and grew until I was heaving, coughing and wailing. The pillows and blankets muffled the sound a lot, which is what I was aiming for. I didn't want anymore (especially Aang) to hear and come to see what was wrong. But after a few minutes they became wet and uncomfortable for me to lie against, so I sat up and cradled myself, pushing my back up to the wall. I had told him I understood, and I wasn't lying, but there could have been another way. I was sure of it. But I knew Aang just wanted the best for me, and I respected that.

"Katara…get a…hold of yourself." I whispered in between sobs, wiping my tears away with my hands, though the tears kept coming. I didn't really know why I was crying so much, I would have never thought of myself as the kind of girl who would get emotionally destroyed over a breakup, but here I was, and I didn't know if I would ever feel like me again until I was back with Aang.

* * *

Downstairs, Suki, Toph and Zuko were still sitting in the living room, an uneasy silence drifting around them. Zuko was once again on floor, one of his legs bent up so that he could rest his elbow on his knee and lean the side of his head into hand. Toph and Suki were sitting on opposite ends of the couch, Suki's gaze plastered on the large book that was sitting on the table in front of her. You could tell that she almost wanted to pick it up and flip through the pages, but something was holding her back, something almost like fear. After a minute or two her eyes moved to look at the corner of the room, no shadows. She shivered and looked back at the book. They had all been relatively quite since Aang and Katara left, none of them knowing exactly what to say. It was finally Toph who brought life back into the room.

"I thought all of this was finally over," she mumbled, bringing her knees up to her chest so that she could hold them in her arms. "I thought that after we defeated Ozai, everything would go back to normal."

"Nothings normal anymore." Zuko added with a sigh. Suki looked at him. "And it will probably never be. Do you know what I got when I went back to the Fire Nation after the celebrations?"

He watched the girls intently, waiting for an answer, but none came so he continued. "An assassination attempt, two actually. That was the thanks I got from my Nation for ending worldwide suffering. After that, I find out my mother is dead! Then I get pulled into all of this." Zuko looked down at the floor, his eyebrows furrowed. "Normal would be me and my family living happily together. Normal would be progressing as Fire Lord without the fear that someone is going to try to kill me every week. Normal would be being home living my life and not being out trying to prevent another damn war from happening! Normal does not exist anymore!"

Zuko was yelling now, the anger in his voice getting more and more violent with every word he said. He brought the hand that was resting on his knee up and slammed it into the wall behind him, causing both the girls to jump.

"Zuko," Suki hushed as she watched him get up, cradling his red fisted hand. His topaz eyes rested on her, and she could see the hurt pooling in them. "You're doing the best you can. We all are. You can't tell me you weren't expecting some sort of rebellion against you when you got back home. You helped stop a one hundred year war, people aren't just going to forget and forgive that easily."

"I don't expect them to."

"Then what do you expect?"

Suki and Zuko gaped at each other, silence filling the air once more. Zuko didn't know how to answer the question. He didn't know what he expected from people, or why he felt the way he did. All he knew was he was just as full of anger and angst now as he was one year ago when he was trying to regain his honor. Suki knew that she wasn't going to get an answer, she frowned.

"Zuko, you may not think it, but you are doing a lot for your people. You've done a lot for them. You should be proud."

Without saying a word of response, Zuko turned around and headed out of the room towards the stairs. Toph and Suki listened as he stormed up them, then from somewhere upstairs they heard a door slam. Suki sighed.

"He doesn't understand."

"Well, I don't really blame him," Toph said with a shrug. "I mean, he pretty much lost his whole family, his sisters killing people recklessly and his Nation's trying to kill him. That would make a person feel pretty bad."

"But he has enough support to deal with it. Us, his uncle, and more than half of the world are greatly thankful for what he's done."

"Yeah, but sometimes when you're in situations like this, you tend to focus on the negative side more than the positive. I can understand that."

Before Suki had time to say anything, a soft knocking sound could be heard from somewhere nearby. Toph's ears perked up.

"Did you hear that?" she asked quietly. Suki nodded.

"Yes," but it was too light of a sound to clarify what it was exactly. They both got up, readying themselves for a fight.

"I think it came from the front door." Aang was now standing at the doorframe, staff in hand. His eyes were slightly red and worn out but his expression was solid. As if on cue the girls both nodded and all three of them started towards the door. Whoever was on the other side of the door, was whispering to someone else, and by the sound of it, the voice was female. It could have easily been Shenmi and a random woman, or it could have been Azula and the Shadowbender. The three teenagers had to chance it to find out which one it was. So as soon as Aang nodded to Suki, giving her the signal to open the door, she twisted the nob and pulled.

On the other side of the door, was a tall man and a short woman holding a bundle in her arms. The man was holding a bright torch, his green eyes shifting from every direction around them, as if he was waiting for something to strike out at them. Suki, Toph and Aang all slightly dropped their stances.

"Please," the woman pleaded, her voice desperate. "May we come in?"

Aang and Suki looked at each other before moving out of the way so that the couple could walk into the house. The man right away blew out his torch and put it into the satchel that was slung around one of his shoulders. The bundle in the woman's arms began to sob so she started to lightly bounce it up and down.

"Shhh," she cooed.

"Um," Aang started, raising an eyebrow. "Not to sound rude, but…who are you?"

The woman looked up at him with a tired smile, her brown eyes hazed over with a lifeless fog. "My name is Ami; this is my husband Manchu, and our son Cole." She bent down so that a small face was now visible from inside the bundle. "We own a small shop in town. Shenmi informed us that you were looking for information on the Shadowbenders, so we came."

"You can tell us about the Shadowbenders?" Aang asked, eyeing the woman suspiciously. She stood up straight again, holding Cole closer to her.

"No," Manchu answered for her. "But we know someone who can."

* * *

Aang led the others into the family room so that they could all sit down. As they sat down Suki leaned into him and whispered into his ear.

"How do we know we can trust them? It could be Azula and the Shadowbender in disguise."

He shook his head. "They're the only lead we have at the moment. We have to give them a chance."

The two sat down on the couch, Toph right beside them. Ami was sitting on the chair opposite them, Cole still in her arms, and Manchu was standing beside her. There was a pause.

"Well?" Suki pressed, eager to hear what they had to say. Ami looked up at Manchu who nodded.

"Our town has been under surveillance of the Shadow Mines for more than one hundred years. It would cost us greatly if they found out we had said anything to you about them."

"And you're willing to take that risk?" Aang asked.

"Yes," Ami continued. "For the future of our son. Our only wish is for it to be safe here, safe in the world. We somehow evaded any destruction or suffering from the Fire Nation during the war, but we were still not safe."

"Why don't you just leave?" Toph snorted.

"Uprooting a whole town is harder than it sounds." Manchu snapped back.

"So who is this person you know that can tell us about the Shadowbenders?" Aang tried to ignore the defensiveness in Manchu's tone. He wanted to get down to the point as soon as possible and let the couple leave. Even though he was almost positive they were harmless, he still couldn't shake the thought of Azula and the Shadowbender sitting right in front of them in the same room in two completely different bodies.

Ami quickly looked around before answering. "Her name is Hera." She said in a hushed tone.

"Well, where can we find her?"

Ami paused, but she didn't look like she was thinking about what the answer was, she just looked like she was pausing for a dramatic effect. That or she was scared to say the answer.

"She lives in the Shadow Mines."

Toph, Suki and Aang all gasped in unison.

"What?" Suki demanded, as if she didn't believe what Ami was saying.

"She is a Shadowbender."


End file.
